Program of exercises for North Carolina Day (The Scotch-Irish settlements), Friday, December 20, 1907

NORTH CAROLINA DAY
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20,
1907.
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES
NORTH CAROLINA DAY
(THE SCOTCH-IRISH SETTLEMENTS)
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1907
COMPILED BY
C. H. MEBANE
ISSUED FROM THE OFFICE OF THE
STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
RALEIGH, N. C.
CHAPTER 164
OF THE PUBLIC LAWS OF 1901.
An Act to Provide for the Celebration of North Carolina Day
in the Public Schools.
The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 1. That the 12th day of October in each and every year,
to be called "North Carolina Day," may be devoted, by appropriate
exercises in the public schools of the State, to the consideration of
some topic or topics of our State history, to be selected by the Super-intendent
of Public Instruction: Provided, that if the said day shall
fall on Saturday or Sunday, then the celebration shall occur on the
Monday next following : Provided further, that if the said day shall
fall at a time when any such school may not be in session, the cele-bration
may be held within one month from the beginning of the
term, unless the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall designate
some other time.
Sec. 2. This act shall be in force from and after its ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times, and ratified this the 9th
day of February, A. D. 1901.
CONTENTS.
Pkeface J. Y. Joyner.
Suggestions to Teachers J. Y. Joyner.
Ho ! For Carolina ! William B. Harrell.
Origin of the Scotch-Irish C. H. Mebane.
Counties Settled in Part by Scotch-Irish C. H. Mebane.
The Scotch-Irish in Orange Frank Nash.
The Regulators E. C. Brooks.
Capture of Charlotte by Cornwallis M. C. S. Noble.
Battle of King's Mountain. W. C. Allen.
My Country, 'Tis of Thee 8. F. Smith.
Rev. David Caldwell, D. D Joseph M. Morehead.
James Knox Polk Mary Augusta Bernard.
Andrew Jackson E. W. Sykes.
William Alexander Graham R. D. W. Connor.
The Scotch-Irish in N. C.
—
Their Schools Charles Lee Raper.
The Old North State William Gaston.
PREFACE.
As many of the public schools are not in session as early as October
12th, I have taken the liberty allowed under the law of fixing the
date of North Carolina Day this year and hereafter on the last Friday
before Christmas. It is earnestly desired that all the public schools
of the State shall engage in this celebration on the same day. This
pamphlet has been prepared and sent out to aid busy teachers in the
proper celebration of the day and to leave no excuse for failing to
celebrate it.
The consecration of at least one day in the year to the public con-sideration
of the history of the State in the public schools, as directed
by the act of the General Assembly printed on the preceding page, is
a beautiful idea. It is the duty of every public school teacher to obey
the letter of this law. It will, I know, be the pleasure of every
patriotic teacher to obey the spirit of it by using the opportunity of
North Carolina Day to inspire the children with a new pride in their
State, a new enthusiasm for the study of her history, and a new love
of her and her people.
Following the chronological order of the State's history, the sub-jects
of the North Carolina Day programs have been as follows : In
1901, The First Anglo-Saxon Settlement in America; in 1902, The
Albemarle Section ; in 1903, The Lower Cape Fear Section ; in 1904,
The Pamlico Section ; in 1905, The Upper Cape Fear Section. In
1906 it was deemed proper to turn aside from this adopted plan of
chronological study to devote the day to the study of the life, charac-ter,
and splendid service of Dr. Charles D. Mclver. We return this
year to the adopted plan, selecting "The Scotch-Irish Settlements in
North Carolina" as the subject. In succeeding years the history of
other sections of the State will be studied somewhat in the order of
their settlement and development, until the entire period of the
State's history shall have been covered. It is hoped ultimately to
stimulate a study of local and county history.
These programs have been arranged with a view of giving the chil-dren
of the rising generation a knowledge of the history of the
resources, manners, customs, and ways of making a living of the
different section of the State. It is hoped in this way to awaken a
proper pride in the history of the State, to inspire a proper confidence
in its present and hope in its future, and to give the people of the
different sections of the State a better acquaintance with each other.
The material for this pamphlet has been collected, arranged and
edited by Mr. Mebane of my office.
I desire to return my sincere thanks to the public-spirited citizens
who, at our request, have so kindly contributed the articles contained
in this pamphlet.
Very truly yours,
J. Y. Joyner,
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Raleigh, N. C, November 7, 1907.
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS.
It is suggested that this pamphlet be made the basis for a study of
North Carolina history by the entire school for some time before
North Carolina Day. One of these articles should be read carefully
each day to the entire school. Questions on that article that may
occur to the teacher should be placed on the blackboard and copied
in note-books by all the children. Written and oral' answers to
these questions should be required on the day succeeding the reading
of the article. The pamphlets should be placed in the school-room
where the children may have access to them. Before North Carolina
Day every one of these articles should have been read and discussed
in this wray by the entire school. Brief questions, fully covering each
article in the pamphlet, should be divided among two or more chil-dren
for full and careful preparation instead of reading the long
articles on the subjects. On North Carolina Day those children to
whom the different articles have been assigned should be called on to
give their answers to the questions assigned them. Some of these
answers may be oral and some written.
The program might be divided into two parts—one part to be
rendered in the morning and one in the afternoon. If it is too long
to be conveniently carried out by small schools, two or more schools
might unite in the celebration. Teachers may adapt or change the
program to suit themselves. They are urged to make a special effort
to secure a large attendance of the people of the district and
to avail themselves of this opportunity to interest parents and
patrons in the school. If practicable, it would be an excellent idea
to have a brief address by some one in the county or the community.
The occasion can be used by a tactful teacher to secure the hearty
co-operation of the committeemen, the women of the community and
all other public-spirited citizens, and to make the day "North Caro-lina
Day" in truth for the grown people as well as for the children.
It is hoped that these pamphlets, issued from year to year for the
celebration of "North Carolina Day," will contain much valuable and
interesting information about the State and its people and much of
its unwritten history. It is suggested, therefore, that the pamphlets
be preserved and that some of them be filed in the library or among
the records of each school.
HO! FOR CAROLINA!
BY WILLIAM B. HAREELL.
Let no heart in sorrow weep for other days;
Let no idle dreamer tell in melting lays
Of the merry meetings in the rosy bowers
;
For there is no land on earth like this fair land of ours
!
CHORUS.
Ho ! for Carolina ! that's the land for me
;
In her happy borders roam the brave and free:
And her bright-eyed daughters none can fairer be
;
Oh ! it is a land of love and sweet liberty
!
Down in Carolina grows the lofty pine,
And her groves and forests bear the scented vine
;
Here are peaceful homes, too, nestling 'mid the flowers.
Oh! there is no land on earth like this fair land of ours!
Ho ! for Carolina ! etc.
Come to Carolina in the summer-time,
When the lucious fruits are hanging in their prime,
And the maidens singing in the leafy bowers
;
Oh ! there is no land on earth like this fair land of ours
!
Ho ! for Carolina ! etc.
Then, for Carolina, brave and free, and strong,
Sound the meed of praises "in story and in song"
From her fertile vales and lofty granite towers,
For there is no land on earth like this fair land of ours!
CHORUS.
Ho ! for Carolina ! that's the land for me ;
In her happy borders roam the brave and free
:
And her bright-eyed daughters none can fairer be
;
Oh ! it is a land of love and sweet liberty
!
ORIGIN OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH—THEIR CHARACTER.
BY C. H. MEBANE.
It is necessary, in order to find the origin of the Scotch-Irish, to go
back to Scotland and Ireland in the time of Elizabeth and her suc-cessor,
James. Queen Elizabeth found Ireland to be a source of con-tinual
trouble. The complaints of the Irish people were numerous,
and received but little consideration at the Court of England. It
was decreed, whether right or wrong, Ireland must submit to Eng-lish
laws, English governors and English ministers of religion, and
not the least among the many grievances was the fact that the Eng-lish
was about to supplant the native tongue as the last work of sub-jugation
of that devoted people.
The Reformation in England had been accomplished, in part at
least, by the piety and knowledge of the people at large, and in part
by the authority of the despotic Henry and his equally despotic
daughter. In Ireland the Reformation was commenced by royal
authority and carried on as a state concern. In 1536 a parliament
was assembled* to take measures for acknowledging the King's su-premacy
in religion and make him head of the Church in England
and Ireland instead of the Pope of Rome. Finally the King was pro-claimed
head of the Church. Much bloodshed and commotion fol-lowed.
Henry found the Irish a source of vexation, and delivered to his
children the inheritance of a restless, dissatisfied people. Elizabeth
continued the course pursued by her father, and subdued Ireland to
the laws and ostensibly to the religious rites of England, and deliv-ered
it to James I., pacified, as she hoped and as James vainly im-agined.
A conspiracy was formed by pertain Earls against the government
of James, but was discovered in time to prevent its execution. Other
rebellions and insurrections arose, and were finally overcome, and, as
a result, about one-half million acres of land were placed at the dis-posal
of James. This land formed the province that had been the
chief seat of disturbances during the time of Elizabeth, and was
rapidly becoming desolate or barbarous. James decided that it might
bring peace to this hitherto most turbulent part of his kingdom if he
would establish here colonies from England and Scotland. He thought
that if he should disseminate the Reformed faith he would thus secure
the loyalty of England.
The colonies were planted, and from there, more than one hundred
years afterwards, sprang those emigrations which peopled the Caro-linas
and Virginia.
From this plan of James there was formed a race of men, law-loving,
law-abiding, loyal, enterprising freemen, whose thoughts and
principles had great influence in moulding the American mind in later
years.
The race of Scotchmen that emigrated to Ireland retained many
characteristic traits of their native stock. They borrowed some
things from their neighbors, and were influenced in some measure by
their environments in Scotland, but there was still a clear mark of
distinction between them and native Irish. They called themselves
Scotch, and, to distinguish them from the natives of Scotland, their
descendants have received the name as we have it to-day, the Scotch-
Irish.
This name is provincial and more used in America than elsewhere.
This term is also applied to the Protestant emigrants from the north
of Ireland and to their descendants.
The political opinions of these people were the outgrowth of their
religious principles. They learned the rudiments of republicanism
before they came to America by standing firmly by their forms of
worship and their creed. They demanded and exercised the privilege
of choosing their ministers and spiritual directors, in opposition to all
efforts to make the choice and the support of the clergy a state or
governmental concern. This caused them to suffer fines, imprison-ment
and banishment. They finally resorted to arms and were victo-rious
in the contest, placing the Prince of Nassau upon the throne,
and gave the Protestant succession to England.
When these people came to America they maintained, in whatever
province they settled, the right of all men to choose their own reli-gious
teachers, and to support them in whatever way seemed best to
each society of Christians, regardless of the laws of England or the
provinces. They also maintained and exercised the right to use what-ever
forms of worship they might judge to be expedient and proper.
"From maintaining the rights of conscience in both hemispheres,
and claiming to be governed by the laws under legitimate sovereigns
in Europe, they came in America to demand the same extension of
rights in politics as in conscience ; that rulers should be chosen by the
people to be governed, and authority should be according to the laws
the people approved. In Europe they contended for a limited mon-archy
through all the troubles of the seventeenth century ; in America
their descendants, defining what a limited monarchy meant, found it
to signify rulers chosen by the people for a limited time and with
limited powers, and declared themselves independent of the British
crown."
The following words of one of their ministers give the key-note of
their views as to political power : "Men are called to the magistracy
by the suffrage of the people whom they govern ; and for men to
assume unto themselves power is mere tyranny and unjust usurpa-tion."
COUNTIES SETTLED IN PART BY THE SCOTCH-IRISH.
BY C. H. MEBANE.
In studying the history of any people it is well for the teachers
and pupils both to have a clear and definite idea as to the territory
occupied by such people. We suggest that our teachers have a map
of North Carolina before the whole school, and take a review of the
territory covered by the "North Carolina Day" of each year since
1901, when we had the "First Anglo-Saxon Settlement in America"
;
in 1902, when we had "The Albemarle Section" ; in 1903, when we had
"The Lower Cape Fear Section" ; in 1904, when we had "The Pamlico
Section" ; in 1905, when we had the "Upper Cape Fear Section." A
copy of each of these ought to be in the possession of each teacher
;
if not, they may be found in some of the homes of each community.
We hope our teachers will review up on this work, so as to bring
a vivid picture before the school, and, with the aid of the North
Carolina map, be enabled to impress not only some important lessons
of the past, but also to impress the location of each.
We give herewith a list of most of the counties settled wholly or
in part by the .Scotch-Irish in this State. The dates we give as to the
formation of the counties will be of interest to the school children.
The teachers will explain to the children that the counties when
they were first formed were large in extent of territory in comparison
with what they are at present ; for instance, show them how other
counties have been formed wholly or in part from the original county
of Orange, and so on, with others.
Orange County formed in 1751.
Rowan County formed in 1753.
Mecklenburg County formed in 1762.
Guilford County formed in 1770.
Caswell County formed in 1777.
Lincoln County formed in 1779.
Cabarrus County formed in 1792.
Iredell County formed in 1788.
Gaston County formed in 1847.
Alamance County formed in 1849.
It is probable that the Scotch-Irish settled in Duplin and some
other counties, but the list above comprises the principal counties of
these most excellent people.
The dates of the formation of the counties above were taken from
Dr. Battle's sketches in the Educational Report of 1897-1898.
N. C. Day—2.
THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN ORANGE COUNTY.
BY FEANK NASH, HILLSBORO, N. C.
Buffalo, Alamance, Hawfields, Eno, Little River and New Hope
were the principal Scotch-Irish settlements of Orange County in the
period extending from 1755 to 1770. Buffalo and Alamance are now
in Guilford County, while Hawfields is in Alamance. New Hope is an
offshoot from Hawfields, and Little River from Eno. There were two
or three smaller settlements in the territory then known as Orange,
notably, one on Hyco Creek and one on Country Line Creek, both in
what is now Caswell County. The Eno settlement was, however, more
distinctively a Scotch-Irish community than any of these. The pre-dominating
element in the population of the territory bordering on
the Virginia line was settlers from Virgina. The Hyco and Country
Line communities to a great degree, and the Alamance and Buffalo
communities to some extent, were in the very midst of these Virginia-
English. With Eno it was otherwise. That was made up almost ex-clusively
of Scotch-Irish settlers from Pennsylvania. That commu-nity,
then, as furnishing the best example of the Scotch-Irish commu-nity
in Orange County, will be the subject of this sketch.
The Eno River has its source in a spring near the northwest corner
of the present county of Orange. It flows in a general southerly
direction until it reaches the Occoneechee Mountains. These deflect
it to the east. The distance from its source in a direct line to the
mountains is less than fifteen miles, yet there we find it a tiny trick-ling
rill, while here it is a rapid-flowing stream, forty feet wide by
three or four deep. Numerous brooks, or brooklets, or spring
branches have discharged their waters into it since it began its jour-ney
to the sea and have made of it a small river. This shows how
well the section through which it flows is watered. It is a country
of hills and valleys, too. In 1750 'huge forests spread in billows across
the. tops of these hills and down their sides and over the valleys.
Along the creeks and larger brooks were to be found rich bottom-lands,
needing but to be cleared and planted to yield abundant har-vests.
This section, too, was exempt from Indian raids. The only tribes
remaining in the limits of the province of North Carolina at this
period (1750-'55) who were at all formidable were the Cherokees and
Catawbas. The latter tribe was fast disappearing, from disease and
contact with the whites, and the Cherokees were formidable only to
the scattered settlements outlying towards their own hunting-grounds.
So safety, fertility, convenience and a mild and healthy climate all
invited the adventurous Scotch-Irish of Pennsylvania to this section.
11
It is probable that one or two families had already settled* there as
early as 1745, but the migration was at its flood-tide from 1750 to
1775. These immigrants were by no means pioneers, blazing the way
for permanent settlers to come after them, but they were citizens of
one province moving to another to improve their condition. They had
already accumulated some property, owned lands and horses, cattle
and sheep. They came from Lancaster, Chester, York, Berks, or
Bucks Counties, Pennsylvania.
Let us take one family as a sample and follow them in their migra-tion.
The winter of 1750-'51 had been severe in Berks. A killing
frost had come unexpectedly early and had seriously damaged the
crops of Mr. T. His oldest child had sickened and died with pneu-monia,
and his wife had been desperately ill. He had heard of the
success of some of his neighbors in the beautiful and fertile Valley of
Virginia, but the bloody-minded Shawnees were on the warpath and
were threatening the outlying settlements. Some of his acquaint-ances
in Bucks County, however, had pressed on further south to the
province of North Carolina, had settled on the Eno River and had
sent back glowing accounts of the climate and of the country. He
determined to go himself and spy out the land with a view to moving
his family to a less hostile climate. In the late fall or early winter
he sets out on horseback for this distant land of promise. Bearing
to the west that he might strike the streams and rivers where they
are fordable, he passes across Maryland and through the Scotch-Irish
settlements in the Valley of Virginia, and, after the lapse of about
thirty days, enters North Carolina, into what is now Caswell County.
He pauses for a while, perhaps, with the scattered Scotch-Irish on
Hyco Creek, but finally rides on to the Eno River.
He is pleased with the country, selects his future home, sends for
William Churton, one of Earl Granville's surveyors, and has it sur-veyed.
After this is done he pays Churton his fees for the survey and
also three shillings sterling,* consideration money for the deed which
Churton is to procure for him from Francis Corbin, one of Earl Gran-ville's
agents, and have ready for him on his return with his family
from Pennsylvania. Then, with the aid of the neighbors, he builds a
log cabin on a suitable site, and, with the same aid, clears and fences
a small parcel of land near it. The spring advancing, he plants corn
in this little clearing, and, leaving it to care for itself, he returns to
Pennsylvania for his family. There he sells all property which he
cannot carry with him to North Carolina, purchases three or four
strong, sturdy horses, if he does not already own them, or, perhaps
two yoke of oxen and a heavy, unwieldy but commodious wagon. In
this are to be carried the household goods, and in it the wife and
younger children are to sleep. A milch cow or two are to be tethered
to its axle, and perhaps a small flock of sheep are to be driven by the
larger children behind it. When all is in readiness for their departure
there is a public meeting held in the school-house of the district, for
*In addition an annual quit rent of three shillings sterling-
.
12
the people are unwilling that they should leave without some testi-monial
of their regard. A paper drawn up by the* school-master is
adopted and delivered, signed, to the emigrants. This I copy from
the yellow and time-stained original. It is preserved in the family as
a precious heirloom.
"To all persons whom these shall concern'—Greeting : Whereas,
T. T. and Ann, his wife, the bearers hereof, are determined, God will-ing,
to remove with their family in order to settle in some parts of
his Majesty's new settlements, and as divers of us have been well
acquainted with them from their early youth, we do certify you that
they are of a sober, honest, peaceable and good behaviour and are
about to depart in the good esteem of the neighborhood and acquaint-ances
in general. Therefore, as such we commend them to the favor-able
reception of those among whom it may be their lot to sojourn
and settle, heartily wishing their prosperity and welfare on all ac-counts.
"In testimony whereof, we, their friends and neighbors, inhabitants
of the township of Heidelberg and places adjacent in the county of
Berks, in the Province of Pennsylvania, have hereunto set our hands,
the 14th day of May, Anno Domini 1752." Then the signatures follow.
They commenced their long and tedious journey soon after this
paper was given them. All along the way Sunday was to them a
Sabbath of rest, and probably of praise and thanksgiving. During the
week-days they made on an average ten miles a day, so they would
arrive at their new home about the first of August. As they would
pass through the settlements in Maryland and Virginia, they would
be met with words of cheer, and there they could replenish their sup-plies
of food. When, wearied and footsore, they arrived at the end of
their long journey, "the neighbors flocked to welcome them and to aid
them in establishing their new home. That home was established
about eight miles north of the present town of Hillsboro, and is still
in the possession of some of the descendants of the original owners.
This family is a type of the Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish settlers.
Many others came in the ensuing five years, quite often several fami-lies
joining in the migration, and Eno soon became one of the most
thickly settled sections of Orange County. By 1755 they had built a
log school-house and church, seven miles north of Hillsboro. At this
church, or rather school-house, for it was never dedicated as a church,
Rev. Hugh McAdeh preached as he journeyed through the country in
1755. In the same year there was a regular Presbyterian Church
organized there, and soon after a frame building was erected, the log
house continuing to be used as a school-house. The church organiza-tion
exists to the present day, being now 157 years old, but in the
spring of 1895 a forest fire destroyed the old church building, and the
new one was erected at the village of Cedar Grove, some miles off.
At the old site, however, there is a very large and well-filled grave-yard,
in which four generations of Scotch-Irish have been buried.
13
The church and the school-house have always been, and always will
be, the mainstay of this admirable race. They realized, as few other
races of men have realized it, that the church without the school-house
was a fosterer of superstition, while the school-house without
the church was a promoter of irreligion and infidelity. So, close by
their churches they built their school-houses, and over* the doors of
both they inscribed in living letters, "The Lord He is God." This,
it seems to me, is the key to their character and the secret of their
greatness.
The criminal records of Orange County, from its organization to the
present day, show that there was less immorality and crime among
the Scotch-Irish than among any other class of people within its
bounds. At all periods of its history they have been most valuable
citizens. But this is not all. Their sons have gone out into many
other States, carrying with them the respect for law, morality and
religion which characterized them at home. Many of them have at-tained
distinction in the various walks of life, and all of them have
been useful men and women.
THE REGULATORS.
BY E. C. BROOKS, TRINITY COLLEGE, DURHAM, N. C.
The first settlers in North Carolina came by way of the sound along
the eastern coast. They came in boats, hunting better pastures, more
game. In these early times there were no roads, no plantations, no
homes, save the Indian wigwams and the little garden-patch around
the village. The eastern coast, with its rivers, sound and lakes, was
a hunting paradise. Soon the fame of this "Summer Country" spread
abroad. Immigrants flocked thither "in great numbers, coming by boat.
Colony after colony came. They pushed up the rivers, settling along
the banks until they reached the falls of the river. This is called in
geography the "fall line." It crosses the Roanoke at Weldon, the Tar
at North Rocky Mount, the Neuse near Smithfield, the Cape Fear
above Fayetteville. For nearly a hundred years after the first set-tlement
there were no white inhabitants living beyond the "fall line."
To the west of the fall line, extending to the Mississippi River, was
an immense territory, inhabited by Indians and as unknown to the
people living along the rivers of the east as the heart of Africa is to-day
to the average student. This territory belonged to North Caro-lina.
About the year 1735 settlers came, some from Pennsylvania, bring-ing
their wives and children on horseback. They came across the
States of Maryland and Virginia and settled in what one now calls
the counties of Alamance and Orange. There were Scotch and Scotch-
Irish, who spoke the dialect of their country. There were Germans,
who spoke the German language. There were settlers from Holland,
who spoke the language of the Hollanders. These settlers were un-acquainted
with the people living along the rivers and sounds of the
east. They took no* part in their government, but built their homes
and churches, cleared the land and lived to themselves. It was neces-sary
to open up trade. They needed salt for their food, and other
things they could not make. A road was opened to the Cape Fear
River. This landing was then called Cross Creek ; now it is known as
Fayetteville. Another road was opened to the Neuse, which connected
with New Bern. After a few years the county of Orange was formed,
and at or near the crossing of the roads from Cape Fear and the
Neuse the little town of Hillsboro was formed. These settlements
now became a part of North Carolina.
The State was now divided into two distinct parts—those living
below the "fall line," in direct communication by boats with the out-side
world, and those living above the fall line, who had to haul
15
their produce seventy-five or one hundred miles on rough roads to
Cross Creek, the nearest market. All the law-makers and the King's
officers lived in tbe east.
There was scarcely any money in the province, and what there was
circulated in the east. Trade consisted in exchanging one kind of
goods for another. For instance, tobacco was exchanged for clothing
or salt. Tbe people paid their rents or their taxes in tobacco or bides
or some other product. The settlements above the fall line had little
or no dealings outside of exchanging their goods with the eastern
counties ; but the eastern counties made the laws, levied the taxes
and frequently furnished the officers to collect the taxes. The King's
officers controlled all the land, and frequently the settlers above the
fall line we're put to a great deal of inconvenience to get titles to
their lands. These things caused the settlers in tbe Orange and Ala-mance
sections to feel unkindly toward the officers of the east. The
unprincipled conduct of tbe land officers even caused the eastern set-tlers
to rise up in revolt.
In the meantime settlers were pouring in from the north and from
the south. They built their homes in what are now Guilford, Forsyth,
Davidson, Rowan, Mecklenburg and other adjoining counties. The
road was extended from Hillsboro to Salisbury and Charlotte. They
were having the same trouble in securing land and in marketing their
produce, and there was a growing discontent against the officers of
the east who controlled the government and made 'the laws for the
State. It was with difficulty that these western counties could secure
representatives even in the Legislature.
To make matters more oppressive for the western settlers, the cir-culating
medium was now changed. They could no longer pay their
taxes in tobacco or hides, but they were required to pay in money.
There was scarcely any money in the middle and western settlements.
The officers could not accept anything but money. This caused great
distress. The Assembly in the east tried repeatedly to remove the
trouble, but their action would be vetoed by the royal government in
England.
The people in the west could not pay their taxes in money, yet pub-lic
officials came among them, at times threatening them, at other
times seizing their property, and at other times selling their goods for
a mere pittance. The misconduct of these officers was enough to
arouse the settlers. The province was in debt. The Assembly had
built a great palace for the Governor at New Bern. They had bor-rowed
money to equip an army for the French and Indian War. The
east, though, was the government. The western settlers did not, in
the first place, like the idea of paying taxes for these things, but
these would have been tolerated if they could have raised the money
;
and, since they had no money to pay with, it was too much for them
to stand and see their goods taken from them by unprincipled officers
who were living off of their distress.
16
As early as 1766 the settlers around Hillsboro met at Maddoek's
Mill, on the Eno River, to consider the state of affairs. It was a
serious meeting. They desired to regulate this trouble; hence the
name "Regulators." The conditions did not improve. In 1767 an-other
meeting was called at Sandy Creek, in Randolph County, near
the Orange County line. The next year a second meeting was called
at Haddock's Mill. They here resolved to pay no greater taxes than
the law provided, to see that the taxes were properly applied, to exer-cise
the right of petitioning the Governor, the Legislature and even
the King, and to join in defraying the expenses of presenting their
case in the manner preferred. This was followed by a demand that
the public officers should give an account of their stewardship.
The settlers in the entire middle and western North Carolina were
feeling the injustice keenly. Riots broke out in Anson, Mecklenburg
and Rowan Counties. In Orange the feeling was very intense—so
much so that in April, 1768, when the Sheriff levied on a horse be-cause
the taxes had flot been paid, and carried it to Hillsboro, the
people arose in open rebellion, marched into Hillsboro about 160
strong, took the horse and bound the Sheriff with ropes. By this
time the mob was wild. They maltreated other inhabitants, shot up
the town and terrified the entire community. It was frenzied wrath
broke loose.
The chief officer of Hillsboro, against whom the wrath was directed,
was Edmund Fanning, lawyer and Clerk of the Court. He had been
guilty of taking illegal fees, and was the chief officer of the govern-ment
in this section of the State. Fanning was a man of considerable
ability ; but he did not sympathize with the people in their troubles,
and they knew it.
Fanning was absent from Hillsboro when this riot broke out. He
returned at once and notified Governor Tryon, at Wilmington, and
proposed that vigorous methods be used for punishing the leaders and
for prohibiting another uprising. The Governor heard of the riots in
Anson. In July he went in person to Hillsboro, with a view of pacify-ing
the people. The Regulators were warned to desist from their law-lessness,
and he promised that any officer who had been guilty of dis-honest
practices should be held to account for the same. Governor
Tryon marched through Orange, Rowan, Mecklenburg and Anson
Counties with a small force of between two and three hundred.
A court was convened at Hillsboro to try the rioters and the officers
for illegal practices. Three of the Regulators were found guilty and
fined heavily. The magistrates and the clerk were found guilty of
taking too high fees and made to pay a nominal fine. Colonel Fanning
was the Register, and when convicted he resigned his office. Tryon
was at Hillsboro with his militia to see that the courts were not
molested. After the trial the trouble seemed to be over. The Gov-ernor
now pardoned all others who had been in the recent riots and
returned home.
17
The leader of the Regulators was Hermon Husband. For a time
everything was quiet, but tbe cause bad not been removed. Tbe peo-ple
were not satisfied with tbe courts. While the officers had been
found guilty, yet their punishment was not sufficient to satisfy the
Regulators. As a consequence they lost confidence in the courts.
When court convened in Hillsboro again, September 24, 1770, Her-mon
Husband and others came into court. They said they bad come
to see justice done, and they demanded that their cases be tried. They
were severe on the lawyers present. When their demands were not
acceded to, they pulled the judge from the bench, broke up tbe court,
dragged Fanning by his heels from the court-room and maltreated
William Hooper and others. They next turned on Fanning's house,
tore it down, whipped publicly some of the citizens who sided with
the courts, swarmed through the streets, breaking up property. Next
day they opened a mock court and proceeded with a mock trial, at
the same time making foolish entries in the court records.
When Governor Tryon heard of these outbreaks he called the
Assembly together. These outrages were considered an insult to the
government. Hermon Husband was sent as a member from Orange.
He was considered in contempt and was expelled from the House.
After his expulsion he was arrested and put in jail. The Regulators
threatened to march down on New Bern. Feeling was running high.
The grand jury failed to make out a case against Husband and he
was released. The Governor issued proclamations against the up-rising
of the people, but it availed nothing. The Assembly next passed
a Riot Act, directed against the Regulators. This act made such
conduct as the Regulators had been guilty of treason and punishable
by death. This had the opposite effect from that desired. They con-sidered
the Assembly in league with the King and their enemy, and
they acted accordingly.
In March, 1771, sixty-two bills of indictment were brought against
Husband and other Regulators. The Assembly voted the Governor an
appropriation with which to raise an army and put down the revolts.
Tbe leading men of the Assembly were officers under Tryon, who took
personal command. One division of the militia, under General Wad-dell,
marched from Wilmington through the Anson, Mecklenburg and
Rowan sections, while Tryon marched through Johnston, Wake and
Orange. The purpose was to join the two armies near Hillsboro.
The Regulators hindered General Waddell, and his ammunition was
destroyed by the "Black Boys" of Cabarrus. Then he was opposed at
Salisbury by a force so threatening that he was unable to cross the
Yadkin.
Governor Tryon marched through Hillsboro, across the Haw, on
the road leading to Salisbury, and pitched his camp on Great Ala-mance
Creek. The Regulators had gathered together a large band of
about two thousand men. When Tryon's army drew near the Regu-lators
presented another petition to the Governor, requesting a re-
N. C. Day—
3
18
dress of their wrongs. The Governor replied that they must first lay
down their arms and submit to the government, pay their taxes and
return peaceably to their homes, with a solemn assurance that they
would not again interfere with the courts.
In the meantime Capt. John Walker and Lieut. John B. Ashe
had been captured by the Regulators and cruelly beaten. Tryon
had in prison several of the Regulators, and he sent a messenger
to the leader of the Regulators, asking that the same treatment be
accorded the King's officers that the Governor was according the
Regulators. The Regulators were unreasonable, and the Governor
proceeded to march down upon them. The Regulators were defiant;
the Governor was determined. Word was sent that he would fire on
them if they did not disperse. The reply came that he could "fire."
The Governor gave the order, but his men did not obey. Then, rising
in his stirrups, he exclaimed: "Fire! Fire on them or on me!" This
sent forth a volley, and the battle began.
This was May 16, 1771. The battle lasted about two hours. The
Regulators at once took to tree-fighting, as they had been accustomed
to in fighting the Indians. Tryon ordered the woods to be burnt, and
soon he had the whole army of Regulators fleeing in every direction.
Thus ended the Battle of Alamance, which was fought on the land of
Capt. Michael Holt, in what is now Alamance County, about nine
miles southwest of Burlington.
Governor Tryon had nine killed and sixty-one wounded. The loss
among the Regulators was in all probability much greater than this,
although there is no authentic record to draw the exact number from.
James Few, one of the Regulators captured, was hanged next day.
Many other prisoners were taken. Twelve were tried, but only six
were executed. The Governor now offered a general pardon to all
engaged if they would return peaceably to their homes, desist in their
lawlessness and pay their taxes. There were, however, a few excep-tions,
among them Husband, the Black Boys of Cabarrus and a few
other conspicuous characters.
Hermon Husband did not remain and fight, but fled, leaving his
compatriots to bear the burden. He left the State and settled in Penn-sylvania,
where later he was implicated in the whiskey riots of that
State.
The Regulators had a real grievance. They were isolated from the
great eastern and commercial sections, they had little voice in the
government, and their representatives were either court officers, who
knew them not, or unwise leaders like Hermon Husband. They were
unable to raise money to pay their taxes, and the officers were guilty
of much extortion and abuse. They desired these evils to be reme-died,
and the Assembly was unable to give redress. The Governor
and the Assembly made attempts to pacify them, but when the Regu-lators
and the officers were tried in the same court the Regulators
were fined heavily and the officers were set free, with a nominal fine.
19
The injustice rankled in their hearts. They had no great leader to
direct them, and their opposition was lawless and brutal. The effect
of these infuriated outbreaks affected the Assembly more than the
justice of their outcries. They "drank damnation to King George"
and swore vengeance on all clerks and lawyers. In their frantic out-cries
against corruption they saw dimly the source of all their
wrongs. They traced it back through clerks and officers to the head
of all—the King—and they fought all who sided with clerks and law-yers.
Hence, they fought organized State government, they fought
their own people, and, theoretically, they fought their own laws.
They were fighting, however, real, not imagined wrongs.
Many of the Regulators left the State; many entered the Revolution
and became patriots; many remained neutral. This great upheaval,
growing out of economic conditions, soon became insignificant in com-parison
with the great struggle with England.
THE CAPTURE OF CHARLOTTE BY CORNWALLIS.
BY M. C. S. NOBLE, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
After Lord Cornwallis had captured Charleston, S. C, in May, 1780,
he determined to march northward through South Carolina, North
Carolina and Virginia, subduing the patriots and re-establishing the
royal rule as he marched along.
His victory over Gates at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina,
gave him fresh courage, and he at once set out to the north, little
dreaming that by the time he should reach Virginia he would be so
weakened by hard-fought battles and long, weary marches that he
would fall an easy prey to the combined force of Washington and his
French allies.
He had often been told, and he, too, easily believed, that there were
many loyalists in the part of North Carolina through which he had
planned to pass who were ready to join the royal cause and who
were anxiously awaiting the coming of the forces of the King. In
fact, so certain was he of the people's desire for him to come among
them that he sent them word to stay on the farms and gather their
crops, so that when he did come along later in the year he might find
abundant supplies for his troops in the hoped-for conquering march
to the north.
Directly in his line of march lay the little town of Charlotte, in
which, on May 20, 1775, the men of Mecklenburg County had de-clared
their independence of Great Britain, and, as an evidence of
their earnestness, had pledged their lives, their fortunes and their
sacred honor to the defense of liberty and political independence.
And now, at the coming of the King's army, these bold patriots were
to have an opportunity of redeeming their pledge by offering up their
lives on the altar of liberty, at the very place where, five years be-fore,
they had kindled the fires of revolt.
Col. William Richardson Davie, with but a handful of patriots,
hung about the British column and opposed its advance from day to
day ; and when the enemy drew near to Charlotte, he, assisted by
Maj. Joseph Graham, made ready for its defense.
The only two streets of which the little town of twenty houses
could then boast crossed each other at right angles, and a two-story
brick court-house stood at their intersection. Davie dismounted his
cavalry, posted them behind a stone wall in front of the court-house,
stationed Graham's volunteers on either side of the street along which
the enemy were expected to advance, and awaited their coming.
21
Soon Tarleton's legion, led by Major Hanger because of Tarleton's
sickness, made an assault upon Davie's forces, who poured such a
deadly fire into the advancing column that it had to fall back. Once
more it assaulted, and once more it was forced to fall back. At this
time "Lord Cornwallis rode up in person and made use of these
words : 'Legion, remember you have everything to lose, but nothing
to gain,' alluding, it is supposed, to the former reputation of this
corps. Webster's brigade moved on, drove the Americans from be-hind
the court-house; the legion then pursued them, but the whole
British army was actually kept at bay for some minutes by a few
mounted Americans, not exceeding twenty in number."
Although Davie had been driven out of Charlotte by superior num-bers,
the brave men of Mecklenburg did not count themselves de-feated.
They at once began to harrass Cornwallis and attack his men
whenever they went from headquarters into the country to search for
supplies. Daily his foraging parties were attacked by the patriots
and driven back to camp at Charlotte. In fact, the whole region
round about was ever ready to fight the forces of the King, and "the
counties of Mecklenburg and Rowan were more hostile to England
than any others in America. The vigilance and animosity of these
surrounding districts checked the exertions of the well-affected and
totally destroyed all communication between the King's troops and
the loyalists in other parts of the province."
On one occasion a party of English was sent out from Charlotte on
a foraging expedition. A little plow-boy saw them coming, unhitched
his horse, rode away and gave the alarm. Soon twelve neighbors,
armed with rifles, rallied near Mclntire's farm, situated on the road
along which the British were coming. The red-coats came up to the
farm-house, from which the family had just made its escape, and
began to load their wagons with grain and forage, catch the poultry
and kill the pigs and cattle. One soldier accidentally overturned a
bee-hive and immediately the bees began to sting his comrades. The
big, red-faced leader of the English began to laugh most heartily at
the fun. Mclntire and his comr.ades saw it all, and, angered beyond
control at the destruction of property, one of them cried out, "Boys, I
can't stand this. I take the captain. Every one choose his man and
look to yourselves." Then the sharp report of their rifles rang out on
the air and "nine men and two horses fell dead on the ground."
A trumpet blast called the English to arms. The. twelve patriots
ran to another part of the woods, again emptied their rifles and again
changed position to fire once more with telling effect upon the enemy.
In a few minutes the frightened English were in full retreat from
what they thought was a well-planned attack by an outnumbering foe.
All this was done by twelve men of Mecklenburg, one of whom lies
buried at Charlotte, with this inscription on his tombstone
:
22
Sacked to the Memory
of-
MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE GRAHAM,
Who Died on the 29th of March, 1826, in the 68th Year
of His Age.
He Lived More than Half a Century in the Vicinity of This
Place, and was a Zealous and Active Defender of His
Country's Rights
in the
REVOLUTIONARY WAR,
And was One of the Gallant Twelve who Dared to Attack
and Actually Drove 400 British Troops at McIntire's,
Seven Miles North of Charlotte, on the
3d. of October, 1780.
George Graham Filled Many High and Responsible Public
Trusts, the Duties of which He Discharged with
Fidelity. He was the People's Friend, not
Their Fetterer, and Uniformly En-joyed
the Unlimited Confidence
and Respect of His
Fellow-citizens.
Cornwallis now began to realize that he was in the enemy's country,
without food for his men, without forage for his horses, and without
friends among the people in the country round about ; and so, when he
heard of the American victory at King's Mountain, he retreated into
South Carolina, after a sixteen days' stay in Charlotte, which he
afterwards called a "hot-bed of rebellion" and "that hornets' nest,"
and of which even his aid wrote in a letter to a brother British
officer : "Charlotte is an agreeable village, but in a . . . rebellious
country."
And now that we have come to the end of our necessarily brief
story of Cornwallis' first invasion of North Carolina and his stay in
Charlotte, where North Carolina men had made their bold and glori-ous
Declaration of Independence, let us read the following, which will
show us how determined the women of Mecklenburg were to help
along the cause of liberty which had been so bravely espoused by the
men
:
"Nor were the ladies in Mecklenburg in any degree inferior in en-thusiasm
to the male population. The young ladies of the best fami-
23
lies of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, have entered into a vol-untary
association that they will not receive the addresses of any
young gentlemen at that place except the brave volunteers who served
in the expedition to South Carolina, * * * the ladies being of the
opinion that such persons as stay loitering at home when the important
calls of the country demand their military services abroad must cer-tainly
be destitute of that nobleness of sentiment, that brave, manly
spirit which would qualify them to be the defenders and guardians of
the fair sex."
BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN.
BY W. C. ALLEN.
No battle of the Revolutionary War was more decisive in its results
than the Battle of King's Mountain, for it forced Cornwallis to aban-don,
for a time at least, his purpose to conquer North Carolina, and
unquestionably hastened the overthrow of that enterprising leader at
Yorktown. To give a 'brief account of that battle and the events
leading up to it is the purpose of this sketch.
After the capture of Charleston, South Carolina, by the British, and
the subsequent conquest of that State in the spring and summer of
1780, Sir Henry Clinton, commander-in-chief of the British force's in
America, went to New York, leaving Lord Cornwallis in command of
the southern department. That experienced general resolved at once
upon the final conquest of North Carolina.
Accordingly, he dispatched to the western part of South Carolina
Col. Patrick Ferguson, with 150 British regulars, under orders to
embody the loyalists in that section and to proceed with them to the
foot-hills of North Carolina and arouse the Tories there. In the mean-time
the main body under Cornwallis himself was to march by slow
stages to the North Carolina line and await the successful conclusion
of Ferguson's venture before advancing further.
Ferguson, who was a Scotchman of the highest integrity and
bravery, set out upon his mission with confidence and enthusiasm. In
the western part of South Carolina he found many loyalists ready to
enlist under his banner. His force soon swelled to more than six hun-dred.
With them he began his march upon North Carolina.
Before he had proceeded far on his northward journey he found
his path blocked by an active and fearless foe. This was a body of
patriots under Colonels Shelby, of North Carolina ; Williams, of South
Carolina, and Clark, of Georgia. These men had been sent there by
Col. Charles McDowell, who was in command of that department, to
watch the movements of Ferguson and, if possible, to attack his force
and disperse it.
For some days there was a series of skirmishes between the two
commands, without material result. Finally, on August 19th, Shelby
attacked a large body of Tories at Musgrove's Mill, on Broad River,
won a signal victory over them, and, with Clark and Williams, was
planning to pursue them in their retreat upon Ninety-six. Just then
the news of the disastrous Battle of Camden reached their ears, and
with those tidings came orders from Colonel McDowell to Colonel
Shelby, directing him to fall back toward the mountains with his
forces. The receipt of such news created a panic among the patriots
and they retreated with precipitation—Shelby and his forces across
the Blue Ridge into what is now Tennessee, and Clark and Williams
25
toward Augusta, Ga. Iu the meantime Cornwallis, after his victory
at Camden, marched upon Charlotte, which he captured, after a sharp
conflict with a small force of North Carolinians under Majors William
R. Davie and Joseph Graham. There he halted to get news from Fer-guson.
That officer was now advancing into North Carolina. As soon
as Shelby, Clark and Williams had dispersed from his front, with his
regulars and some six hundred loyalists, Ferguson, about the first of
September, advanced to Gilberttown, near the site of the present town
of Rutherfordton. There he halted and, by proclamation, ordered all
enemies of the King to lay down their arms and beg for pardon. At
the same time he called upon all friends of the royal cause to join his
standard. In response to this call the Tories of the western counties
flocked to Gilberttown until Ferguson found himself at the head of
sixteen hundred men. In a boastful way he sent word to Colonel
Shelby that he and his followers must submit to British rule, or death
and destruction would be visited upon them.
This was a time of darkness and gloom for the American cause.
Patriot armies had been defeated, both in the north and the south,
and despair seemed to be settling upon the hearts of the young nation's
strongest men. Yet, under all the discouraging circumstances of the
times, the brave spirits of the western counties of North Carolina
never lost hope. In their mountain homes the stalwart soldiers of
that day prayed a prayer :
"Oh, Heaven ! our bleeding country save
!
Is there no hand on high to shield the brave?
What though destruction sweeps these lovely plains
!
Rise, fellow-men, our country yet remains
;
By thy dread name we wave the sword on high,
And swear by her to live ! for her to die !"
In the midst of this gloom, still farther toward the west there was
gathering a storm which was destined to overwhelm Ferguson and
put a new spirit into the languishing cause of the colonies. Colonels
Shelby, Sevier, McDowell, Cleveland and Winston, the boldest spirits
of the west, were" getting ready to strike a telling blow for freedom
and for home.
These bold spirits went from settlement to settlement on the Wa-tauga
and the Nollichucky Rivers and in the Valley of the Tennessee,
arousing the spirit of freedom in the hardy yeomen of the hills. On
the 25th if September a meeting was held at Sycamore Shoals, on the
Watauga River, and a thousand sturdy backwoodsmen, with hunting
rifles and knives, were there. The following forces assembled
:
From Burke and Rutherford, under Colonel McDowell 160
From Wilkes and Surry, under Cleveland and Winston 350
From Washington (now Tennessee), under Colonel Sevier 240
From Sullivan (now Tennessee), under Colonel Shelby 240
From Washington, Va., under Colonel Campbell 400
Total 1,390
26
This was the army of mountain men that met with grim determina-tion
written upon their faces. They bade farewell to friends and
relatives who came to see them off, and, with a prayer and a blessing
from Parson Doak, who told them to smite the enemy with the sword
of the Lord and of Gideon, they set out upon their search for Fergu-son
and his minions, resolved to destroy them. By day and night
they traveled through the defiles of the mountains. *
On October 1st, after a rainy day, they halted at Quaker Meadows,
the home of Col. Charles McDowell, in Burke County, for consulta-tion.
McDowell was the ranking officer, as it was in his district. He
was, however, loath to hold authority over such men as Sevier, Cleve-land,
Shelby and Campbell. He therefore proposed to go to Gates'
headquarters at Hillsboro and ask for a general officer to be sent to
command the army. His proposition met with approval, and next
morning he set out upon his journey, leaving Col. Joseph McDowell,
his brother, in command of his division of the troops.
After the departure of McDowell the matter was further discussed.
Colonel Shelby made the point that time was slipping away, and that
Ferguson would escape them if they waited for the return of Mc-
Dowell. He strongly urged that a commander be selected from among
themselves, and, with a generosity peculiar to brave men, put Colonel
Campbell, of Virginia, in nomination. The nomination was unani-mously
adopted, all of the North Carolina officers thus expressing
their courtesy to the Virginia gentleman. That done, they proceeded
on their way and came to the neighborhood of Gilberttown, intending
to attack Ferguson there. At that place they were joined by Col.
John Williams, of South Carolina, with a few hundred patriots from
that State.
Ferguson, however, had not waited to weather the storm there. He
retreated to the border of North and South Carolina and entrenched
himself on the top of King's Mountain, an elevation that extends
from east to west and is 500 yards long and from 60 to 70 yards wide.
On the top of that naturally fortified place the British leader infa-mously
boasted that God Almighty could not drive him from it.
Meanwhile the patriot band, which Ferguson was trying to escape,
was drawing nearer. Leaving Gilberttown, the mountain men pushed
on after the fleeing foe. At the Cowpens, in South Carolina, on Octo-ber
6th, a council of war was held by the leaders, and it was unani-mously
agreed that the fleetest horsemen should be selected and with
them hurry on to attack the foe before he could reach Cornwallis at
Charlotte. When the entire force was drawn up in line and the pur-pose
stated to them, volunteers were called for. Every man volun-teered.
Then a selection of 910 men, with the best horses, was made,
and with that force the undaunted leaders pushed on.
Uncertain as to where Ferguson was, they marched with caution.
They expected to find him encamped on Broad River, but at that
point they learned that he was on King's Mountain, some miles farther
27
on. Here it was decided to divide the force into four columns, and in
that way proceed upon their hunt for the enemy. Colonels Joseph
McDowell and Joseph Winston were placed at the head of the right-hand
column ; Colonels Cleveland and Williams at the head of the
left, and Colonels Shelby and Sevier led the two middle columns.
Col. William Campbell was in command of the whole.
In that order the columns advanced until they came within a few
hundred yards of the foot of the mountain, when all dismounted, tied
their horses, formed in battle array and marched toward Ferguson's
fortified position. The center, under Shelby and Sevier, advanced up
the sides of the mountain, while the right and left wings swung round
and surrounded the British on all sides. Ferguson was thus com-pletely
hemmed in. As the columns under Shelby and Sevier reached
the summit they were furiously assailed by Ferguson and his men
with the bayonet. For a time the Americans were beaten back, but
rallied and again rushed to the attack. Just at that time the column
under Cleveland and Williams gained the summit on the other side
and began to pour into the British ranks a destructive fire. To meet
that fresh attack Ferguson turned and charged them with his mounted
infantry. The Americans held their ground, and from behind trees
and rocks shot down the troopers as they advanced in a gallop.
Shelby and Sevier also followed hard upon the enemy and threw
them into confusion. About the same time McDowell and Winston
reached the top from their side and began to fire upon the doomed foe.
Ferguson, however, like a lion at bay, rallied his regulars and
turned upon these new-comers with fixed bayonets. For a brief time
he carried everything before him, but his men were falling thick and
fast and he was forced up the hill, with his ranks greatly reduced.
All the American troops had reached the summit by this time, and
the surviving British troops were huddled together in the center. In
this supreme moment Colonel Ferguson, who was no coward, blew his
whistle for the last charge. At the head of his devoted band he
spurred forward, but before the line had gone two hundred yards
Ferguson fell dead, pierced by thirteen bullets. Those of his fol-lowers
who escaped the same fate threw down their arms and surren-dered
themselves prisoners of war. A magnanimous foe spared their
lives.
The losses in this battle were heavy, considering the numbers en-gaged.
Of the British and Tories there were two colonels, three cap-tains
and 201 privates killed, one major and 127 privates wounded
and left on the ground not able to march ; one colonel, twelve captains,
eleven lieutenants, two ensigns, one quartermaster, one adjutant, two
commissaries, eighteen sergeants and 600 privates taken prisoners.
Total loss of the British and Tories, 1,105—the entire command. Of
the patriots there were killed one colonel (Williams), one major, one
captain, two lieutenants, four ensigns, nineteen privates ; total, 28.
28 •
Wounded, one major, three captains, three lieutenants, fifty-three pri-vates;
total, 60.
After the battle the patriots encamped on the battle-field until next
day, when they departed with their prisoners, having buried the dead.
A few days after, in Rutherford County, the principal officers held a
court martial and condemned thirty-two of the worst Tory prisoners
they had to death. They commenced hanging them, three at a time,
until nine had been hanged. * The others were respited. Giving their
prisoners and captured arms over to the proper authorities, the moun-tain
men returned to their homes, having been away less than a
month. In that time they had achieved one of the most notable victo-ries
of the war.
Upon hearing the fatal news, Cornwallis broke camp at Charlotte
and retreated to Winnsboro, S. C, saying that Charlotte was the
worst hornets' nest he had ever seen.
MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.
REV. DR. S. F. SMITH.
My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing
;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring.
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills,
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake,
Let all that breathe partake.
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
Our fathers' God, to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!
REV. DAVID CALDWELL, D. D.
BY JOSEPH M. MOEEHEAD.
Usefulness is the highest test of human excellence. It is true, in
instances, circumstances beyond the control of the individual may-have
prevented the discovery of true, innate greatness. But when a
human being has devoted a long and eminently successful life to the
elevation and benefaction of his fellows, the benevolence, wisdom and
strength of the man are apparent. It is unlawful to draw parallels
or institute comparisons between the life of the Saviour and that of
any mere man; and yet, in reviewing the life of David Caldwell, we
are struck with these coincidences. David, too, was a carpenter.
Like his great Examplar, he left his bench at the age of twenty-five,
and like him, too, henceforth went about doing good to others. It is
probable that his father, a well-to-do Pennsylvania farmer, had sent
him to the schools of the day. But, as was the custom of his own and
of Paul's times, the young David was apprenticed, that he might ac-quire
one of the useful callings of life. At about twenty-five years of
age he declared his purpose of acquiring learning and of becoming a
minister of the church of his choice. He at once pledged his patri-mony
in order to raise the requisite funds, and, supplementing this
by teaching as occasion required, he entered upon and successfully
finished a thirteen years' course of indefatigable labor. Having at-tended
the necessary course in a classical school, taken his bachelor's
degree from Princeton College, written his Latin exegesis and stood
the required examination on the sciences, etc., he was licensed to
preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, June, 1763, in his thirty-seventh
year. Soon thereafter he was sent as missionary to Mecklen-burg,
North Carolina, and in 1768 was installed pastor of Buffalo and
Alamance churches, in Guilford. Here the opportunity of his life was
presented, and the true, great man was equal to the great emergency.
His influence as a missionary lingers in Mecklenburg County and
elsewhere in North Carolina to this day. His success as a minister
was evident from the large and influential churches left by him at
the close of a pastorate of fifty years and more. Under Dr. Caldwell's
ministration and through his influence fifty ministers were added to
the church of Christ—seven in one day to his own Presbytery of
Orange.
The crying necessity of the age and country for schools was appa-rent,
and Dr. Caldwell determined to supply it. Soon his school be-came
an educational center to the Southern States. "His log cabin
(school-house) served North Carolina many years as an academy, a
31
college and a theological seminary." "The attendance averaged from
fifty to sixty pupils—seldom fewer, sometimes more. Their subse-quent
history showed many of these to have been learned, earnest
men of the highest moral character. At home and abroad they filled
leading positions in both church and state, and indelibly impressed
themselves for good upon their times and country. There was now
presented another most meritorious appeal. It proved, of course, irre-sistible
to the noble nature whose sole ambition seems to have been
—
under God's direction—to plumb the path of duty. Learning and
general information being at a low ebb, there was not a trustworthy
physician within the broad bounds of his labors, and Dr. Caldwell
determined to minister to the sick. Always intelligent in his methods,
he at once secured from Philadelphia the standard medical works of
the day ; placed himself in communication by letter with a leading
physician of the same place, and, watching his opportunity, secured
from abroad the presence in his own home of a regularly graduated
and equipped practitioner. It is an affront to our judgment of men
and things to believe for a moment that a man of Dr. Caldwell's
known fine sense, push, pluck and fidelity to purpose ever failed of
excellency in any effort undertaken by him. More than this, with his
own strong arms and personal physical exertion, Dr. Caldwell gave
this country its first lesson in advanced, intelligent agriculture. His
farm was the neatest, his meadows the most luxuriant, and his sub-drains
the straightest, the staunchest and the best. Like other rock
memorials of other noble old Romans, his blind-ditches are with us
and doing service to-day. The extraordinary circumstances under
which he labored dictated and demanded at his hands his extraordi-nary
course.
The mere restless, ephemeral love of change, so characteristic of
weak, impracticable natures, found no place among the substantial
virtues of this sterling character, "Jack-at-all-trades and good at all,"
I recall as an expression of the late Governor Morehead. Doubtless
this quaint change in the old adage the pupil caught years before
from the preceptor whom he so greatly admired and whose memory
he so affectionately cherished throughout life.
It is said that, in his estimate of the moral worth of men, Napoleon
"acknowledged no criterion but success." Judged by this severe stand-ard,
Dr. Caldwell was a wonderful man. In the history of nations, at
long intervals generally, crises arise that demand the exercise of great
powers by great men. To these public benefactors, from obvious rea-sons,
full credit is usually and promptly accorded. It is different,
however, at times, with some other of earth's uncalendared saints
those rare spirits who seem gifted as by intuition with the ability to
wisely counsel, control and direct mankind in those daily emergencies
that confront us all. While this was pre-eminently the case with Dr.
Caldwell, it was also true that in his day was presented the issue of
32
slavish submission to wrong, unworthy of Englishmen, or war with
the well-nigh omnipotent mother country.
Appreciating fully his great responsibility, with a courage and in-telligence
entirely characteristic, he threw the weight of his great
name in favor of human rights and American liberty. Whether in
impassioned eloquence from the pulpit or upon his knees in the
thicket a refugee, his voice was ever raised in behalf of his country.
Living, practicing and preaching in the midst of the Regulators, he
knew personally these men, their wives and their little ones ; he was
acquainted fully with their grievances and their purposes, and he
was their staunch friend always.
Throughout the spring and early summer of 1768, and before, the
Regulators, now largely become the people, had wearied the ear of
patience and of reason with the solemn asseveration of their oppres-sive
taxation and other wrongs. Repeatedly, dispassionately and
most humbly they had petitioned the proper authorities for at least
a hearing in these regards, but in vain. It suited the ambitious sol-dier,
Tryon, to proceed otherwise, and he backed with power and pre-ferment
his satellite—the villainous tax-gatherer. In pursuance of
the only course now left them, the people determined to pay no more
taxes until it should be shown that their collection and disbursement
were lawful. Society was now, of course, sadly disorganized and de-moralized.
The danger of the situation was manifest to all thought-ful
men, and it became the duty of all such to relieve the stress, if
possible. About the first of July, Tryon came to Hillsboro and re-mained
in this section for two months or more. Knowing that Dr.
Caldwell and three other Presbyterian ministers here had great
weight with the Presbyterians west, suppressing his real intent and
purposes, with false promises made to be broken, Tryon wickedly de-ceived
this good man, or, if Caldwell was not entirely deceived, he at
least hoped for peaceable settlement of the difficulties, and did the
best possible under the circumstances. In a letter written at this
time and addressed to the Governor, these gentlemen congratulated
the country that Tryon himself had now espoused the cause of the
people and that their wrongs would be righted—their righteous de-mands
and all that they had ever asked. The published language of
this letter was, in part: "You (Tryon) have made the cause of the
poor so much your own as to ensure to them the redress of any griev-ances
they may labor under." At the same time these gentlemen ad-dressed
another letter to the people themselves, pleading the Gov-ernor's
promise "that justice will be done" as the reason of their
course, or at least why their advice should be taken, and expressing
their profound compassion for the people in their "distresses," they
told them, as they ought to have done: "Remember, brethren, the
remedy for oppression is within the compass of the laws." In 1771,
three years thereafter, standing literally between them and the mus-kets
of the murderous Tryon, he warned them that the moment for
33
effecting their righteous purposes had not yet arrived, and therefore
faithfully urged them to submit or disperse. A few weeks later, at
Hillsboro, nearly fifty miles from his home, his earnest efforts were
put forth in behalf of the prisoners then on trial for their lives, and
not of his own congregation, and failing partially in this, in view of
the gibbet he breathed into the ears of men about to die that comfort
and fortitude that the Scripture, under all conditions, ever brings to
the upright and the true. After the war he went to Pennsylvania,
and, enlisting the sympathies and active co-operation of the two Sena-tors
from North Carolina and others, he secured a pardon for Hermon
Husband.
That Dr. Caldwell should have entertained such disinterested and
pronounced friendship for a bad man or bad men is incredible. It is
a fact, moreover, that in ascertaining Dr. Caldwell's views and feel-ings
in regard to both the Regulators themselves and their cause, we
are not dependent upon inference. We have direct proof. The Hon.
D. F. Caldwell,* the last here of a line that has graced the annals of
North Carolina for more than a century, himself having frequently
been honored by the suffrages of his countrymen, and known to all, is
to-day a citizen of Greensboro. Mr. Caldwell tells me that he was
ten years old at the death of his grandfather, Dr. David Caldwell.
He states that he remembers him well and remembers conversations
had also with his own father and uncles for years afterwards, and
that he was the friend of and in sympathy with the Regulators, and
therefore strenuously advised them against the folly of taking up
arms at that time and under their then existing circumstances.
For months during the Revolutionary War from Tory and Briton
Caldwell fled for his life to kindly swamps around, and Cornwallis,
failing to secure his person by rewards offered, paid him the distin-guished
compliment of burning at different times and at different
places, as far as he had the power, every paper that was an emana-tion
of his brain. In peace, as in war, his talents were at the com-mand
of his country, and, together with the Regulator, Daniel Gil-lespie,
he represented Guilford (including Rockingham and Ran-dolph)
in the conventions that adopted both the State and Federal
Constitutions.f
While his great deeds have embedded his memory in the hearts of
his countrymen at large, to many of us in this particular section it is
held in especial reverence. He was the instructor of youth, the family
physician, the pastor and beloved friend of our fathers and mothers,
now dead and gone, and to him we gratefully accord our indebtedness
in a large degree for whatever of moral and intellectual culture we
possess. That Dr. Caldwell was an accomplished scholar, a man of
clear and vigorous intellect and a thorough-going Whig, the perusal of
a single sermon—"But the slothful shall be under tribute"—proves
* Deceased since article was written.
f Caruthers.
34
beyond all cavil. In 1824, in his one hundredth year, he died as he
had lived—energetically and with purpose. Realizing that the veto
of a hundred years rested upon his further usefulness in the flesh, he
longed and upon principle was eager to pass on to a new sphere of
active duty and its rewards. The ancient cedars of old Buffalo now
peacefully wave above Dr. Caldwell's first and last resting-place upon
earth—the immediate scene for more than fifty years of his own sad
labors—the saddest ever demanded at the hands of sympathetic hu-manity—
that of comforting the mourner over his recently deceased
and beloved dead. Hard by and in equally honored graves sleep the
friends' and coadjutors of his life—the Regulators—Col. Daniel Gil-lespie
and his brother, Colonel John, The Fearless. But yesterday,
with a heart full of admiration and of gratitude, dutifully and rever-ently
I wiped away from their lettered tombs time's envious mould,
that would obscure their fame. The example of the good and the
great ought not to die. He is a false utilitarian of hurtful views who
sees only waste in memorials to virtue. Boys may not read history,
but they are hero worshippers and bow in idolatry before their tombs.
May we never forget the grand men who have gone before, scattering
blessings as they went, and leaving records, in the imitation of which
lies both our glory and safety.
This summary of known facts is penned afresh because in the clear
light of true history lies the highest eulogium of our noble dead. It
is. also hoped that the attention of others may be called to the impor-tance
of publishing at once the many well-authenticated Revolution-ary
traditions still extant in North Carolina. It is an effort also to
keep alive in our midst the memory of men who dared and suffered
and accomplished so much for us. General Greene said, truly, that
the patriot, Howard, deserved a statue in gold. What shall be built
to Caldwell, where and by whom?
For,
"Where shall we rank thee
On history's page,
Thou more than patriot
—
Scarce less than sage?"
JAMES KNOX POLK (1795-1849).
BY MISS MARY AUGUSTA BERXAKI).
James Knox Polk, eleventh President of the United States, was a
descendant of Scotch-Irish colonists who came to North Carolina in
the early part of the eighteenth century. The family name was. then
Pollok. His father was a farmer, in moderate circumstances, with
ten children, of whom the future President was the eldest.
Polk was horn in Mecklenburg County, November 2, 1795. When
he was ten years old the family moved to Tennessee. He was at first
destined to be a merchant, but cared little for business ; so, in 1815,
he entered the University of North Carolina, where he graduated, in
1818, with highest honors. His career as a lawyer won him a great
local reputation, and he was elected to the State Legislature of Ten-nessee,
and afterwards to Congress, where he became known as a
prominent advocate of Democratic principles. He was Speaker of the
House during five sessions, served fourteen years in Congress, and
was elected Governor of Tennessee in 1839.
During the year 1844 a political campaign involving the destiny of
an immense tract of territory and more than thirty thousand people
absorbed the attention of both North and South. The leader of the
Whig party was Henry Clay, orator and statesman. He opposed the
annexation of Texas, and Polk, as a compromise candidate, was nomi-nated.
The announcement of this nomination was the first public dis-patch
that ever passed over a telegraph wire. The campaign cries of
the election, "Polk and Texas," and "Clay and no Texas," are famous.
Clay's attitude was unpopular and defeated him, for Polk was elected
by a majority of sixty-five electoral votes. Texas was admitted to
the Union in 1845, and the war with Mexico followed, resulting in
the further acquisition of California, New Mexico and Arizona.
During Polk's administration the boundary of Oregon was settled
by a treaty with England. Our government had insisted that the line
of separation should be 54 degrees 40 minutes, and the cry in the
United States was "Fifty-four forty, or fight." A compromise was
effected and war averted. Iowa and Wisconsin were admitted as
States, and gold was discovered in California, thus attracting a tide
of emigration to the Pacific coast. So great was the wealth and busi-ness
of the country as a result of these acquisitions that the Depart-ment
of the Interior was first established while Polk was President.
The organization of the Smithsonian Institution and the opening of
the Naval Academy at Annapolis were important events of this ad-ministration.
Two useful inventions—the sewing-machine, by Elias
36
Howe, and the cylinder printing press, by R. M. Hoe—added to the
comfort of the people and the diffusion of knowledge. Polk was an
advocate for a revenue tariff, which was established, and the pro-tective
system was not renewed until 1861.
Having pledged himself to a single term of office, Polk refused to
be renominated, and he retired to Nashville, Tennessee, where he
died, June 15, 1849, three months after he left Washington.
Although in his political career James K. Polk was identified with
Tennessee, it is to North Carolina that he owes his origin and educa-tion.
He was a man of deep religious principle and respectable
ability, a fine representative of those North Carolinians who have
inherited the best qualities of the sturdy Scotch-Irish stock which has
been such a strong element in the development of our State. He may
be considered a personification of that spirit of duty and service
which it is the pride of her children to consider the motive-power of
the Old North State.
ANDREW JACKSON (1767-1845).
BY E. W. SYKES, WAKE FOREST.
The most popular of all the Presidents of the United States was
Andrew Jackson. This popularity was due to bis personality, to the
rugged virtues be represented, and to the courage he always dis-played.
Born in Union County, in the Waxhaw settlement, he grew
to young manhood among the rugged pioneers of that frontier region,
where courage and bravery were the common possession of all. While
still a lad of thirteen, the British army, led by the redoubtable and
cruel Tarleton, struck the Waxhaws like a tornado and butchered
Colonel Buford's men, even after they bad surrendered, saying to
them, "We did not ask you to surrender." This young boy enlisted
in the company of Col. William R. Davie, which was composed largely
of young men from this neighborhood. Colonel Davie presented him
with a brace of small pistols and his uncle gave him a three-year-old
horse. This boy remained near Colonel Davie as his courier and was
in the fight at Hanging Rock. Bitter, indeed, was the strife among
Whig and Tory in this community, and one was as cruel as the other.
One Whig remarked, "Tories and rattlesnakes are all the same to me."
Young Jackson's mother was a most loyal Whig and gave her life for
the cause, dying of yellow fever near Charleston, where she had gone
to nurse the sick boys from the WTaxhaws, who were prisoners.
At the close of the Revolution young Jackson found himself alone
in the world, with no kinsman of the Jackson name in America. He
went to school some and then began to teach, and later to study law
under Spruce McKay, at Salisbury, and then under Montford Stokes.
The young lawyer felt that the older parts of North Carolina did not
furnish the opportunity for a young man so well as the western por-tion,
later known as Tennessee. Jackson, along with some of his
young legal friends, received Federal appointments, Jackson was
made District Attorney. Riding one horse and leading his pack-horse,
he crossed the mountains to his future home. He rose rapidly
in public esteem, helped organize the new State, and might have been
the first United States Senator, but chose the House of Representa-tives
that he might push some Indian claims for his new State. He
refused to return to Congress because it separated him from his wife,
whom he loved with a tender devotion. He returned to his home and
determined to eschew politics and become the best farmer and stock-raiser
in his State. He bought much land, some slaves, and did be-come
the most famous raiser of blooded horses in the west. Jackson
was happy on his farm. He purchased improved machinery, every
new variety of fruit, and loved his horses devotedly. To his slaves
he was very kind, and is said never to have refused one of them a
38
pass. He whipped one man for hitting* his trusty slave with a whip.
His last duty at night was to go to his stables and see that his famous
horse, Truxton, was all right.
But eschew politics he could not. Instead he became the political
boss of his State and made and unmade the political fortunes of men.
Jackson always said, "I am no politician." He was mistaken ; he was
a past-master in the art. He became the rival of Governor Sevier,
and, much to the disgust of the venerable old Revolutionary general,
was elected Major-General of the State Militia. He began at once the
study of tactics and military history. He ceased to be interested in
law and politics, but spent his time training the militia. For its
equipment he secured appropriations and spent lavishly of his own
purse.
In politics he was a Democrat, but had not been favorably impressed
with Jefferson. He feared that Jefferson lacked the courage of his
convictions. No man who lacked courage appealed to Jackson. Of
Alexander Hamilton he said, "No man could know him and not like
him, but he wanted Washington to accept a crown." Aaron Burr, he
thought, lacked but little of being a very great man ; that little, how-ever,
was a virtue Jackson highly esteemed, namely, reverence. All
these men Jackson had met during his short stay in Congress.
With Jefferson's administration Jackson had no patience. Jackson
resented the insults of the English and wanted to fight ; Jefferson did
not. Jackson was a witness in the trial of Aaron Burr for treason.
While at the trial in Richmond, Jackson became convinced that Jef-ferson
was pushing the case solely because he disliked Burr. It was
just at this time that a British vessel fired on an American vessel in
our own waters. Jackson could restrain himself no longer. From
the steps of the State-house in Richmond he denounced Jefferson and
his whole administration for cowardice, and this to an audience of
Virginians. Those who heard that speech knew that a new factor had
entered into national politics.
When the war did come Jackson was ready with his Tennessee
militia. The story of this war on land reflects no credit on American
arms. Our armies were defeated ; the administration had not .pre-pared
for it ; the officers were old men who had been officers in the
Revolution ; only Jackson and William Henry Harrison were young
men, and these were the two who did reflect credit on our arms on
land. Jackson was appointed to command in the southwest. While
the Peace Commissioners were negotiating terms of peace at Ghent,
England was busy fitting a most formidable naval armament to take
from the United States the Louisiana purchase. To Jackson fell the
task of defending this region at New Orleans. While Jackson was
preparing to defend New Orleans, the Peace Commissioners, under
the lead of Clay and John Quincy Adams, were signing a peace
that recognized not one single right for which America had gone
to war. So interested was England in this new scheme of conquest
39
that many of Wellington's soldiers, who had driven Napoleon from
Spain and had marched victorious through southern France, were
sent to join this expedition. To meet this formidable armament Jack-son
had no strong government on which to rely ; also, he was where
the government could not interfere with him. He declared New
Orleans under martial law and forced everybody to join him and his
Tennessee Riflemen. He opened the jails and placed one battery in
the hands of some released pirates. Jackson placed his men behind
breast-works and awaited the attack of these veteran English troops
whose heroic charges had won renown in Europe. T,he English were
over-confident ; one soldier saw it, and said, "O, that Wellington were
with us !" Jackson's men were stern with the joy that a warrior
feels when he meets a foeman worthy of his steel. Jackson ordered
his men to wait till the English were within good shooting distance.
Proudly and bravely the English advanced on the Americans. Jack-son
stepped to the side of a rifleman who was playing with the trigger
of his rifle and spoke to him. Clear as a bell the rifle spoke, and the
mounted leader of the English fell from his horse, shot through the
head. Then the battle began. At the first fire of the deadly riflemen
the mounted officers fell ; then down went the color-bearers. Every
rifleman selected the man in front of him. Never was there seen such
deadly work. Human valor could not endure the massacre, and so
the English retreated, their officers killed and their ranks so depleted
that they could not rally again.
The victory was complete ; it was the most glorious American arms
had ever won ; all the disgrace of the two years was wiped out ; Eng-land
had been humbled in a most unexpected quarter ; America was
elated. Even Jefferson attended a celebration in honor of the vic-tory.
The instigators of the disloyal Hartford Convention were crest-fallen.
By one stroke Jackson had become the most popular man in
America. Many States had their favorite sons, such as Clay, of Ken-tucky
; Calhoun, of South Carolina, and Adams and Webster, of New
England. But Jackson was the favorite son of the nation. Tennessee
sent him to the United States Senate, and in 1829 he became Presi-dent,
winning even the electoral votes of States whose favorite sons
opposed him. The campaign waged against Jackson was the bitterest
in the history of the country. Jefferson was a theoretical Democrat,
but Jackson was practical. He carried into practice what Jefferson
had taught. He reorganized the party that Jefferson had founded,
and gave it an organization that enabled it to control the destiny of
the United States till 1861. Jackson's influence on American life was
this : Till Jackson came, America was under the old dispensation of
Europe. With Jackson begins the new dispensation. Till Jackson,
America was a suppliant at the thrones of Europe; he made her
independent ; a child, he made her grown. Till Jackson, Democracy
was theoretical ; he made it practical ; he found it limited, he left it
popular. At the critical moment Andrew Jackson was America's ter-ritorial,
political and social redeemer.
WILLIAM ALEXANDER GRAHAM.
BY E. D. W. CONNOR.
William A. Graham was born September 5, 1804, in Lincoln County,
North Carolina. His father was Gen. Joseph Graham, who had
been a soldier of the Revolution. His mother's name was Isabella
Davidson. They had twelve children. William was the youngest.
When he was a boy there were no public schools in North Carolina.
He went to private schools at Statesville and Hillsboro. His teachers
all said that he was one of the best students in their schools. When
he was sixteen years old he went to the University of North Carolina.
He studied hard, read many good books, took part in the debates of
the debating society and became one of the best speakers in the State.
When he graduated, in 1824, he was one of the four highest students
in his class.
After leaving the University he went to Hillsboro to study law.
His teacher was the great lawyer and judge, Thomas Ruffin. Graham
became one of the leading lawyers of the State. When he was twenty-nine
years old he was elected to the Legislature. He was a member
of the Legislature eight times and helped to make many good laws.
One of these was the law to establish the public schools. Another
was the law to build the first railroad ever built in North Carolina.
In 1840 the Legislature had to elect two men to go to Washington
and represent North Carolina in the United States Senate. The Sen-ate
is a part of Congress and helps to make the laws for the whole
United States. The two men elected for North Carolina were Willie*
P. Mangum and William A. Graham. Both of these men lived in
Hillsboro. Graham was in the Senate two years. He was always
courteous and polite and made many friends. He attended carefully
to every duty that he had to perform, and was one of the hardest
workers in the Senate.
When he returned, to North Carolina, in 1843, the people at once
elected him Governor. He served four years as Governor. He took
a great deal of interest in the building of railroads, the digging of
canals and the making of good roads. He said that our roads were
a disgrace to the State, and what he said then is still true, in most of
the counties. Perhaps some day some of the boys who read this
story will become famous for building good roads in North Carolina.
He who does this will be regarded as one of the greatest men in the
State. Graham also urged the Legislature to build a hospital where
poor insane people could be cared for. He also favored the building
Pronounced Wylie.
41
of a school for deaf and dumb children. He did all that a Governor
could do to improve the public schools.
After he left the Governor's office the President of the United
States made him Secretary of the Navy. This was one of the most
important offices in the United States. Graham had charge of all the
war vessels and sailors of the United States. One of the things he
did was to send an expedition to make a treaty of friendship with
Japan. At that time Japan would not have anything to do with other
nations. The Japanese would not go to other countries and would
not let other people come to their country. But the commander of
the expedition which Graham sent persuaded the Japanese rulers to
open a trade with the people of the United States. After this Japan
began to trade with other nations and became one of the great nations
of the world.
Another thing that Graham did was to send a war vessel to bring
Louis Kossuth to the United States. He was a great patriot of Hun-gary,
a country in Europe, and had tried to win liberty for his people
like Washington did in America. But the tyrannical King defeated
him and he had to fly for his life. The American people admired his
bravery, and when he was in danger William A. Graham sent a vessel
to bring him in safety to this country. The people welcomed him
with great joy and held great meetings in his honor.
Graham had now become one of the leading men in the whole
United States. In 1852 the Whig party nominated him for Vice-Presi-dent.
He was not elected, and so came back to his home in Hillsboro.
. Soon after this the war broke out between the Nprth and the South.
You have read about this great war in your history of the United
States. At first North Carolina did not secede or withdraw from the
United States. But when President Lincoln told her that she must
send soldiers to fight against the South, all the people cried out, "If
we must fight, let us fight for the South and not against her." A
great convention was then held at Raleigh to decide what North Caro-lina
should do. Graham was one of the leading men in this conven-tion.
When North Carolina seceded and joined the Confederate
States, Graham was elected to represent her in the Confederate States
Senate, as he had done in the United States Senate. As soon as he
saw that the North had so many men that the South would be beaten
he did all in his power to make peace, for he wanted to save as many
lives as possible.
After the war was over many bad men came from the North to the
South and got control of the States. They were called "carpet-bag-gers."
Some bad men from the South, who were called "scallawags,"
turned against the South and joined the "carpet-baggers." They
made many bad laws, robbed the people and committed many out-rages.
Graham opposed them with all his might, and after a while
they were driven out of office and good men put in their places.
. 42
The war had broken up the public schools of the South, and the
people were too poor to build others. A good Northern man who then
lived in England admired the bravery of the Southern people and was
sorry for their sufferings. He wanted to help them, and decided that
the best thing he could do was to help them build schools. So he
gave a large sum of money, about $3,000,000, to build schools for
Southern children. His name was George Peabody. Mr. Peabody
selected several of the greatest men in America to see that this money
was properly spent. They were called the "Peabody Education
Board." One of them was William A. Graham. He helped to man-age
this immense educational fund and to build schools all over the
South. Many of the boys and girls who read this story are being
taught in schools begun by the Peabody Education Board, and so were
their fathers and mothers. What a noble thing it was for this North-ern
man to give this large amount of money to Southern children!
Every boy and girl in the South ought to remember George Peabody
and what he did, and every boy and girl in North Carolina ought to
remember the name of William A. Graham and what he did as a
member of the Peabody Education Board.
Graham did not live many years after the war. In 1874 the two
great States of Virginia and Maryland were in dispute about their
boundary line. They could not agree, so decided to select some men
from other States to settle the matter for them. Virginia selected
William A. Graham. While he was in Saratoga, New York, attending
to this business, he was taken ill, and died August 11, 1875.
THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN NORTH CAROLINA—THEIR
EARLY SCHOOLS.
BY CHARLES LEE RAPER, PH. D., PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
So long have we been slaves to the unfortunate habit of viewing
our history as purely a narrative of the politics and of the wars of
our ancestors, that we have almost completely failed to see another
phase, really a most vitally important one, of their life and thought.
We have made heroes of their politicians, statesmen and warriors.
But their teachers—their real guides and leaders—we have allowed
to remain unknown and thoroughly unappreciated. The time has now
certainly come when our boys and girls—yes, all of us—should know,
appreciate and venerate the really great teachers and leaders of our
past.
And of these leaders the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians have supplied
us with more than a goodly number. They have, in fact, during the
last forty years of the eighteenth century and the first three-quarters
of the nineteenth, been our most numerous, most energetic and de-voted
teachers—really brilliant lights to a people of all too slight
educational desire. »
During our colonial period—during those times which are now fast
passing into the realm of the mythical—it was these Scotch-Irish
school-masters who kept most of our schools. The Church of England
gave us a few of our early teachers, Anglican ministers serving also
as school-masters. But for the whole of our provincial life we can
discover scarcely eight of these masters. And their work was con-fined
exclusively to the seacoast settlements—to those sections east of
a line drawn from Edenton to Wilmington. At no time did their in-fluence
extend beyond this line. To the seacoast settlements these
teachers were a perpetual source of benefit, of guidance and inspira-tion.
The territory of the hill country—and this was, indeed, a vast one,
extending from the seacoast plains to the Catawba and beyond—was
untouched by these early Anglican minister-teachers. For the people
of this great territory, largely a series of Scotch-Irish settlements, it
was the Scotch-Irish Presbyterian minister who was the great teacher.
In fact, he was the only teacher, excepting the Moravians in the set-tlements
which centered about the now famous town of Salem. Dur-ing
all of the early life of this section—in fact, until the middle of
the nineteenth century—these Scotch-Irish Presbyterians gave us more
school-masters than any other church, really more than all the other
denominations combined.
44
When these minister-teachers came to the, hills of North Carolina
they found only a few people, and these scattered far and wide ; they
found a very primitive stage of life—pioneers in a very wilderness;
they found a people possessed of great ignorance, but with native good
sense and vigor ; they found a vast amount of the forces of nature to
conquer and a primitive people to develop into a higher life.
And these Scotch-Irish minister-teachers were an energetic body, a
band of heroic missionaries, reared in the province of Pennsylvania
and educated at Nassau Hall (later Princeton College), coming into
pioneer and primitive settlements. These bright, vigorous and in-dependent
men brought with them ideas which have exercised the
profoundest influence upon all the phases of our life and thought
—
upon our religion, our politics, our industry and our education. Their
churches and schools soon became centers of ideas—the places of their
nourishment and of their spreading. These Scotch-Irish Presbyterian
schools soon became and long continued to be the fountains of intel-lectual
vigor for a great portion of our own ancestors, and their influ-ence,
through their pupils, became coextensive with our entire coun-try.
Independent in their inheritances and early training, these
preacher-teachers became more and more independent in their new
mission field. To the King of England they never professed more than
nominal allegiance ; they were subjects only of the one great King
the Lord. And it was these people who were our great school-masters
for a hundred years.
This Scotch-Irish Presbyterian minister-teacher deserves at the
hands of the historian and at the hands of our people, especially our
school boys and girls, a thousand times more consideration and ven-eration
than we have ever thought to pay him. He was in the truest
sense a pioneer—an ardent missionary in a new, thinly settled and
primitive community. He possessed the ability to appreciate intelli-gence
and culture as none other of our colonial ancestors did ; he
keenly appreciated the exceedingly great and permanent value of
education, for the individual and the community alike. He gave his
very life—its ideals, its energy, its enthusiasm—to the teaching o'f his
fellow-men ; his classical school was ever a shining and brilliant light,
He stood out, and always, for the light of classical thought and cul-ture,
and proclaimed the power of knowledge, of character and of re-finement,
in the midst of ignorance and crudeness.
Just when the first of these Scotch-Irish Presbyterian school-mas-ters
began his work it is now impossible to ascertain, though we have
excellent reasons for thinking that it was as early as 1760. From
this time certainly until 1860 these school-masters were the true lead-ers
of our life—the vital and brilliant spots in our history.
It is most probable that the first of these school-masters began his
work in the famous Center congregation, which extended from the
Yadkin to the Catawba, and which had within its bounds a goodly
number of our famous Revolutionary men—the Bre'vards, the Os-
45
borues and the Davidsons. This school, which was located within
this congregation, near the spot upon which later that most important
higher institution, Davidson College, was built, was known by the
name of Crowfield Academy.
But, though established six or seven years later than Crowfield,
Caldwell's "Log College," located five miles northwest of the place
from which later was to spring the vigorous town of Greensboro, was
certainly the greatest and most famous of all the early Scotch-Irish
schools. In point of duration, and especially of the personality of the
master, Rev. David Caldwell, D. D., this school has no superior in the
educational history of our life. Caldwell fashioned and shaped much
of the life of a large territory for almost sixty years. Born in Penn-sylvania
in 1725, graduated from Nassau Hall (later the famous
Princeton College) in 1761, sent to North Carolina as a missionary in
1765, Caldwell, when ordained as the pastor of the churches of Buffalo
and Alamance in 1768, began a career of most extraordinary impor-tance.
To the end of his life, in 1824, he was, indeed, the master,
religious and educational, of a large and influential community. Yes,
he was more than this ; he was their physician for years. And as
their patriotic and intelligent statesman he took a very prominent
part in the "War of the Regulators," in the Revolution, in the Con-vention
of 1776 which formulated the State Constitution, and in the
Convention of 1788 which refused to ratify the Federal Constitution.
But it was as the minister of Buffalo and Alamance and the master
of the "Log College" (a two-story log house located in his own yard)
that Caldwell performed his greatest and most permanent service.
Through these instruments, especially through his work with students
from all sections of the South, Caldwell was a great master.
And there were other famous classical schools of the Scotch-Irish
—
Queen's Museum, or Liberty Hall, at Charlotte, 1767-'80, Clio's
Nursery and Science Hall, Zion Parnassus, and a number of others
less famous.
Clio's Nursery and Science Hall were founded by the Rev. James
Hall, D. D. ; Clio, in 1778, and Science Hall a few years later. Born
in Pennsylvania in 1744, graduated from Nassau Hall (Princeton) in
1774, Hall came to western North Carolina in 1776 and became the
minister of three Scotch-Irish congregations, extending from the South
Yadkin to the Catawba, of which the most important was Bethany.
And in this community he spent his life's best thought and energies,
until his death, in 1826. During all these years Hall was the master.
He was a very influential preacher and teacher. He was also an
ardent American; he dared to accept the command of a company of
patriots as chaplain-captain, even though he was a servant of the
Great Lord of Peace.
Zion Parnassus was established and for many years conducted by
the Rev. Samuel E. McCorkle, D. D. He, like Caldwell and Hall, was
a son of Pennsylvania and a graduate of Nassau Hall in 1772. And,
46
like these two famous preacher-teachers, he was the minister of a
Presbyterian congregation, Thyatira, in western Rowan County. At
the church of this congregation, from 1777 to 1811, and at his classical
and normal school which he founded at his home, about nine miles
west of Salisbury, on the highway from Salisbury to Statesville, he
performed a wonderfully valuable service—of teaching and guiding
his fellow-men from the lower to the higher plains of human life.
Such is the educational record of the early Scotch-Irish Presbyte-rians
in North Carolina, though told in most meager outline and,
withal, too little interest. Judged from any point of view, it is
throughout a record of wonderful energy, devotion, intelligence and
brilliancy. What other leaders are there in our early life who de-serve
so much at our hands? Let us give them their proper place in
our history—a most high place in our record of permanent fame.
THE OLD NORTH STATE.
BY WILLIAM GASTON.
Carolina ! Carolina ! Heaven's blessings attend her !
While we live we will cherish, protect and defend her;
Though the scorner may sneer at and witlings defame her,
Our hearts swell with gladness whenever we name her.
Hurrah! Hurrah, the Old North State forever!
Hurrah ! Hurrah ! the good Old North State
!
Though she envies not others their merited glory,
Say, whose name stands .foremost in Liberty's story
!
Though too true to herself e'er to crouch to. oppression,
Who can yield to just rule more loyal submission?
Hurrah, etc.
Plain and artless her sons, but whose doors open faster
At the knock of a stranger, or the tale of disaster?
How like to the rudeness of their dear native mountains,
With rich ore in their bosoms and life in their fountains.
Hurrah, etc.
And her daughters, the Queen of the Forest resembling
—
So graceful, so constant, yet to gentlest breath trembling
;
And true lightwood at heart, let the match be applied them,
How they kindle and flame ! Oh ! none know but who've
tried them.
Hurrah, etc.
Then let all who love us, love the land that we live in
(As happy a region as on this side of Heaven),
Where Plenty and Freedom, Love and Peace smile before us,
Raise aloud, raise together the heart-thrilling chorus
!
Hurrah ! Hurrah ! the Old North State forever
!
Hurrah! Hurrah! the good Old North State!
A BALLAD OF HEROES.
AUSTIN DOBSON.
Because you passed, and now are not,
—
Because, in some remoter day,
Your sacred dust from doubtful spot
Was blown of ancient airs away,
Because you perished,— must men say
Your deeds are naught, and so profane
Your lives with that cold burden? Nay,
The deeds you wrought are not in vain!
Though it may be, above the plot
That hid your once imperial clay,
No greener than o'er men forgot
The unregarding grasses sway ;
—
Though there no sweeter is the lay
Of careless bird,—though you remain
Without distinction of decay,
—
The deeds you wrought are not in vain!
No. For while yet in tower or cot
Your story stirs the pulses' play
;
And men forget the sordid lot
—
The sordid care, of cities gray ;
—
While yet, be-set in homelier fray,
They learn from you the lesson plain
That Life may go, so Honor stay,—
i
The deeds you wrought are not in vain!
ENVOY.
Heroes of old! I humbly lay
The laurel on your graves again;
Whatever men have done, men may,
—
The deeds you wrought are not in vain.

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NORTH CAROLINA DAY
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20,
1907.
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES
NORTH CAROLINA DAY
(THE SCOTCH-IRISH SETTLEMENTS)
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1907
COMPILED BY
C. H. MEBANE
ISSUED FROM THE OFFICE OF THE
STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
RALEIGH, N. C.
CHAPTER 164
OF THE PUBLIC LAWS OF 1901.
An Act to Provide for the Celebration of North Carolina Day
in the Public Schools.
The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 1. That the 12th day of October in each and every year,
to be called "North Carolina Day," may be devoted, by appropriate
exercises in the public schools of the State, to the consideration of
some topic or topics of our State history, to be selected by the Super-intendent
of Public Instruction: Provided, that if the said day shall
fall on Saturday or Sunday, then the celebration shall occur on the
Monday next following : Provided further, that if the said day shall
fall at a time when any such school may not be in session, the cele-bration
may be held within one month from the beginning of the
term, unless the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall designate
some other time.
Sec. 2. This act shall be in force from and after its ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times, and ratified this the 9th
day of February, A. D. 1901.
CONTENTS.
Pkeface J. Y. Joyner.
Suggestions to Teachers J. Y. Joyner.
Ho ! For Carolina ! William B. Harrell.
Origin of the Scotch-Irish C. H. Mebane.
Counties Settled in Part by Scotch-Irish C. H. Mebane.
The Scotch-Irish in Orange Frank Nash.
The Regulators E. C. Brooks.
Capture of Charlotte by Cornwallis M. C. S. Noble.
Battle of King's Mountain. W. C. Allen.
My Country, 'Tis of Thee 8. F. Smith.
Rev. David Caldwell, D. D Joseph M. Morehead.
James Knox Polk Mary Augusta Bernard.
Andrew Jackson E. W. Sykes.
William Alexander Graham R. D. W. Connor.
The Scotch-Irish in N. C.
—
Their Schools Charles Lee Raper.
The Old North State William Gaston.
PREFACE.
As many of the public schools are not in session as early as October
12th, I have taken the liberty allowed under the law of fixing the
date of North Carolina Day this year and hereafter on the last Friday
before Christmas. It is earnestly desired that all the public schools
of the State shall engage in this celebration on the same day. This
pamphlet has been prepared and sent out to aid busy teachers in the
proper celebration of the day and to leave no excuse for failing to
celebrate it.
The consecration of at least one day in the year to the public con-sideration
of the history of the State in the public schools, as directed
by the act of the General Assembly printed on the preceding page, is
a beautiful idea. It is the duty of every public school teacher to obey
the letter of this law. It will, I know, be the pleasure of every
patriotic teacher to obey the spirit of it by using the opportunity of
North Carolina Day to inspire the children with a new pride in their
State, a new enthusiasm for the study of her history, and a new love
of her and her people.
Following the chronological order of the State's history, the sub-jects
of the North Carolina Day programs have been as follows : In
1901, The First Anglo-Saxon Settlement in America; in 1902, The
Albemarle Section ; in 1903, The Lower Cape Fear Section ; in 1904,
The Pamlico Section ; in 1905, The Upper Cape Fear Section. In
1906 it was deemed proper to turn aside from this adopted plan of
chronological study to devote the day to the study of the life, charac-ter,
and splendid service of Dr. Charles D. Mclver. We return this
year to the adopted plan, selecting "The Scotch-Irish Settlements in
North Carolina" as the subject. In succeeding years the history of
other sections of the State will be studied somewhat in the order of
their settlement and development, until the entire period of the
State's history shall have been covered. It is hoped ultimately to
stimulate a study of local and county history.
These programs have been arranged with a view of giving the chil-dren
of the rising generation a knowledge of the history of the
resources, manners, customs, and ways of making a living of the
different section of the State. It is hoped in this way to awaken a
proper pride in the history of the State, to inspire a proper confidence
in its present and hope in its future, and to give the people of the
different sections of the State a better acquaintance with each other.
The material for this pamphlet has been collected, arranged and
edited by Mr. Mebane of my office.
I desire to return my sincere thanks to the public-spirited citizens
who, at our request, have so kindly contributed the articles contained
in this pamphlet.
Very truly yours,
J. Y. Joyner,
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Raleigh, N. C, November 7, 1907.
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS.
It is suggested that this pamphlet be made the basis for a study of
North Carolina history by the entire school for some time before
North Carolina Day. One of these articles should be read carefully
each day to the entire school. Questions on that article that may
occur to the teacher should be placed on the blackboard and copied
in note-books by all the children. Written and oral' answers to
these questions should be required on the day succeeding the reading
of the article. The pamphlets should be placed in the school-room
where the children may have access to them. Before North Carolina
Day every one of these articles should have been read and discussed
in this wray by the entire school. Brief questions, fully covering each
article in the pamphlet, should be divided among two or more chil-dren
for full and careful preparation instead of reading the long
articles on the subjects. On North Carolina Day those children to
whom the different articles have been assigned should be called on to
give their answers to the questions assigned them. Some of these
answers may be oral and some written.
The program might be divided into two parts—one part to be
rendered in the morning and one in the afternoon. If it is too long
to be conveniently carried out by small schools, two or more schools
might unite in the celebration. Teachers may adapt or change the
program to suit themselves. They are urged to make a special effort
to secure a large attendance of the people of the district and
to avail themselves of this opportunity to interest parents and
patrons in the school. If practicable, it would be an excellent idea
to have a brief address by some one in the county or the community.
The occasion can be used by a tactful teacher to secure the hearty
co-operation of the committeemen, the women of the community and
all other public-spirited citizens, and to make the day "North Caro-lina
Day" in truth for the grown people as well as for the children.
It is hoped that these pamphlets, issued from year to year for the
celebration of "North Carolina Day," will contain much valuable and
interesting information about the State and its people and much of
its unwritten history. It is suggested, therefore, that the pamphlets
be preserved and that some of them be filed in the library or among
the records of each school.
HO! FOR CAROLINA!
BY WILLIAM B. HAREELL.
Let no heart in sorrow weep for other days;
Let no idle dreamer tell in melting lays
Of the merry meetings in the rosy bowers
;
For there is no land on earth like this fair land of ours
!
CHORUS.
Ho ! for Carolina ! that's the land for me
;
In her happy borders roam the brave and free:
And her bright-eyed daughters none can fairer be
;
Oh ! it is a land of love and sweet liberty
!
Down in Carolina grows the lofty pine,
And her groves and forests bear the scented vine
;
Here are peaceful homes, too, nestling 'mid the flowers.
Oh! there is no land on earth like this fair land of ours!
Ho ! for Carolina ! etc.
Come to Carolina in the summer-time,
When the lucious fruits are hanging in their prime,
And the maidens singing in the leafy bowers
;
Oh ! there is no land on earth like this fair land of ours
!
Ho ! for Carolina ! etc.
Then, for Carolina, brave and free, and strong,
Sound the meed of praises "in story and in song"
From her fertile vales and lofty granite towers,
For there is no land on earth like this fair land of ours!
CHORUS.
Ho ! for Carolina ! that's the land for me ;
In her happy borders roam the brave and free
:
And her bright-eyed daughters none can fairer be
;
Oh ! it is a land of love and sweet liberty
!
ORIGIN OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH—THEIR CHARACTER.
BY C. H. MEBANE.
It is necessary, in order to find the origin of the Scotch-Irish, to go
back to Scotland and Ireland in the time of Elizabeth and her suc-cessor,
James. Queen Elizabeth found Ireland to be a source of con-tinual
trouble. The complaints of the Irish people were numerous,
and received but little consideration at the Court of England. It
was decreed, whether right or wrong, Ireland must submit to Eng-lish
laws, English governors and English ministers of religion, and
not the least among the many grievances was the fact that the Eng-lish
was about to supplant the native tongue as the last work of sub-jugation
of that devoted people.
The Reformation in England had been accomplished, in part at
least, by the piety and knowledge of the people at large, and in part
by the authority of the despotic Henry and his equally despotic
daughter. In Ireland the Reformation was commenced by royal
authority and carried on as a state concern. In 1536 a parliament
was assembled* to take measures for acknowledging the King's su-premacy
in religion and make him head of the Church in England
and Ireland instead of the Pope of Rome. Finally the King was pro-claimed
head of the Church. Much bloodshed and commotion fol-lowed.
Henry found the Irish a source of vexation, and delivered to his
children the inheritance of a restless, dissatisfied people. Elizabeth
continued the course pursued by her father, and subdued Ireland to
the laws and ostensibly to the religious rites of England, and deliv-ered
it to James I., pacified, as she hoped and as James vainly im-agined.
A conspiracy was formed by pertain Earls against the government
of James, but was discovered in time to prevent its execution. Other
rebellions and insurrections arose, and were finally overcome, and, as
a result, about one-half million acres of land were placed at the dis-posal
of James. This land formed the province that had been the
chief seat of disturbances during the time of Elizabeth, and was
rapidly becoming desolate or barbarous. James decided that it might
bring peace to this hitherto most turbulent part of his kingdom if he
would establish here colonies from England and Scotland. He thought
that if he should disseminate the Reformed faith he would thus secure
the loyalty of England.
The colonies were planted, and from there, more than one hundred
years afterwards, sprang those emigrations which peopled the Caro-linas
and Virginia.
From this plan of James there was formed a race of men, law-loving,
law-abiding, loyal, enterprising freemen, whose thoughts and
principles had great influence in moulding the American mind in later
years.
The race of Scotchmen that emigrated to Ireland retained many
characteristic traits of their native stock. They borrowed some
things from their neighbors, and were influenced in some measure by
their environments in Scotland, but there was still a clear mark of
distinction between them and native Irish. They called themselves
Scotch, and, to distinguish them from the natives of Scotland, their
descendants have received the name as we have it to-day, the Scotch-
Irish.
This name is provincial and more used in America than elsewhere.
This term is also applied to the Protestant emigrants from the north
of Ireland and to their descendants.
The political opinions of these people were the outgrowth of their
religious principles. They learned the rudiments of republicanism
before they came to America by standing firmly by their forms of
worship and their creed. They demanded and exercised the privilege
of choosing their ministers and spiritual directors, in opposition to all
efforts to make the choice and the support of the clergy a state or
governmental concern. This caused them to suffer fines, imprison-ment
and banishment. They finally resorted to arms and were victo-rious
in the contest, placing the Prince of Nassau upon the throne,
and gave the Protestant succession to England.
When these people came to America they maintained, in whatever
province they settled, the right of all men to choose their own reli-gious
teachers, and to support them in whatever way seemed best to
each society of Christians, regardless of the laws of England or the
provinces. They also maintained and exercised the right to use what-ever
forms of worship they might judge to be expedient and proper.
"From maintaining the rights of conscience in both hemispheres,
and claiming to be governed by the laws under legitimate sovereigns
in Europe, they came in America to demand the same extension of
rights in politics as in conscience ; that rulers should be chosen by the
people to be governed, and authority should be according to the laws
the people approved. In Europe they contended for a limited mon-archy
through all the troubles of the seventeenth century ; in America
their descendants, defining what a limited monarchy meant, found it
to signify rulers chosen by the people for a limited time and with
limited powers, and declared themselves independent of the British
crown."
The following words of one of their ministers give the key-note of
their views as to political power : "Men are called to the magistracy
by the suffrage of the people whom they govern ; and for men to
assume unto themselves power is mere tyranny and unjust usurpa-tion."
COUNTIES SETTLED IN PART BY THE SCOTCH-IRISH.
BY C. H. MEBANE.
In studying the history of any people it is well for the teachers
and pupils both to have a clear and definite idea as to the territory
occupied by such people. We suggest that our teachers have a map
of North Carolina before the whole school, and take a review of the
territory covered by the "North Carolina Day" of each year since
1901, when we had the "First Anglo-Saxon Settlement in America"
;
in 1902, when we had "The Albemarle Section" ; in 1903, when we had
"The Lower Cape Fear Section" ; in 1904, when we had "The Pamlico
Section" ; in 1905, when we had the "Upper Cape Fear Section." A
copy of each of these ought to be in the possession of each teacher
;
if not, they may be found in some of the homes of each community.
We hope our teachers will review up on this work, so as to bring
a vivid picture before the school, and, with the aid of the North
Carolina map, be enabled to impress not only some important lessons
of the past, but also to impress the location of each.
We give herewith a list of most of the counties settled wholly or
in part by the .Scotch-Irish in this State. The dates we give as to the
formation of the counties will be of interest to the school children.
The teachers will explain to the children that the counties when
they were first formed were large in extent of territory in comparison
with what they are at present ; for instance, show them how other
counties have been formed wholly or in part from the original county
of Orange, and so on, with others.
Orange County formed in 1751.
Rowan County formed in 1753.
Mecklenburg County formed in 1762.
Guilford County formed in 1770.
Caswell County formed in 1777.
Lincoln County formed in 1779.
Cabarrus County formed in 1792.
Iredell County formed in 1788.
Gaston County formed in 1847.
Alamance County formed in 1849.
It is probable that the Scotch-Irish settled in Duplin and some
other counties, but the list above comprises the principal counties of
these most excellent people.
The dates of the formation of the counties above were taken from
Dr. Battle's sketches in the Educational Report of 1897-1898.
N. C. Day—2.
THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN ORANGE COUNTY.
BY FEANK NASH, HILLSBORO, N. C.
Buffalo, Alamance, Hawfields, Eno, Little River and New Hope
were the principal Scotch-Irish settlements of Orange County in the
period extending from 1755 to 1770. Buffalo and Alamance are now
in Guilford County, while Hawfields is in Alamance. New Hope is an
offshoot from Hawfields, and Little River from Eno. There were two
or three smaller settlements in the territory then known as Orange,
notably, one on Hyco Creek and one on Country Line Creek, both in
what is now Caswell County. The Eno settlement was, however, more
distinctively a Scotch-Irish community than any of these. The pre-dominating
element in the population of the territory bordering on
the Virginia line was settlers from Virgina. The Hyco and Country
Line communities to a great degree, and the Alamance and Buffalo
communities to some extent, were in the very midst of these Virginia-
English. With Eno it was otherwise. That was made up almost ex-clusively
of Scotch-Irish settlers from Pennsylvania. That commu-nity,
then, as furnishing the best example of the Scotch-Irish commu-nity
in Orange County, will be the subject of this sketch.
The Eno River has its source in a spring near the northwest corner
of the present county of Orange. It flows in a general southerly
direction until it reaches the Occoneechee Mountains. These deflect
it to the east. The distance from its source in a direct line to the
mountains is less than fifteen miles, yet there we find it a tiny trick-ling
rill, while here it is a rapid-flowing stream, forty feet wide by
three or four deep. Numerous brooks, or brooklets, or spring
branches have discharged their waters into it since it began its jour-ney
to the sea and have made of it a small river. This shows how
well the section through which it flows is watered. It is a country
of hills and valleys, too. In 1750 'huge forests spread in billows across
the. tops of these hills and down their sides and over the valleys.
Along the creeks and larger brooks were to be found rich bottom-lands,
needing but to be cleared and planted to yield abundant har-vests.
This section, too, was exempt from Indian raids. The only tribes
remaining in the limits of the province of North Carolina at this
period (1750-'55) who were at all formidable were the Cherokees and
Catawbas. The latter tribe was fast disappearing, from disease and
contact with the whites, and the Cherokees were formidable only to
the scattered settlements outlying towards their own hunting-grounds.
So safety, fertility, convenience and a mild and healthy climate all
invited the adventurous Scotch-Irish of Pennsylvania to this section.
11
It is probable that one or two families had already settled* there as
early as 1745, but the migration was at its flood-tide from 1750 to
1775. These immigrants were by no means pioneers, blazing the way
for permanent settlers to come after them, but they were citizens of
one province moving to another to improve their condition. They had
already accumulated some property, owned lands and horses, cattle
and sheep. They came from Lancaster, Chester, York, Berks, or
Bucks Counties, Pennsylvania.
Let us take one family as a sample and follow them in their migra-tion.
The winter of 1750-'51 had been severe in Berks. A killing
frost had come unexpectedly early and had seriously damaged the
crops of Mr. T. His oldest child had sickened and died with pneu-monia,
and his wife had been desperately ill. He had heard of the
success of some of his neighbors in the beautiful and fertile Valley of
Virginia, but the bloody-minded Shawnees were on the warpath and
were threatening the outlying settlements. Some of his acquaint-ances
in Bucks County, however, had pressed on further south to the
province of North Carolina, had settled on the Eno River and had
sent back glowing accounts of the climate and of the country. He
determined to go himself and spy out the land with a view to moving
his family to a less hostile climate. In the late fall or early winter
he sets out on horseback for this distant land of promise. Bearing
to the west that he might strike the streams and rivers where they
are fordable, he passes across Maryland and through the Scotch-Irish
settlements in the Valley of Virginia, and, after the lapse of about
thirty days, enters North Carolina, into what is now Caswell County.
He pauses for a while, perhaps, with the scattered Scotch-Irish on
Hyco Creek, but finally rides on to the Eno River.
He is pleased with the country, selects his future home, sends for
William Churton, one of Earl Granville's surveyors, and has it sur-veyed.
After this is done he pays Churton his fees for the survey and
also three shillings sterling,* consideration money for the deed which
Churton is to procure for him from Francis Corbin, one of Earl Gran-ville's
agents, and have ready for him on his return with his family
from Pennsylvania. Then, with the aid of the neighbors, he builds a
log cabin on a suitable site, and, with the same aid, clears and fences
a small parcel of land near it. The spring advancing, he plants corn
in this little clearing, and, leaving it to care for itself, he returns to
Pennsylvania for his family. There he sells all property which he
cannot carry with him to North Carolina, purchases three or four
strong, sturdy horses, if he does not already own them, or, perhaps
two yoke of oxen and a heavy, unwieldy but commodious wagon. In
this are to be carried the household goods, and in it the wife and
younger children are to sleep. A milch cow or two are to be tethered
to its axle, and perhaps a small flock of sheep are to be driven by the
larger children behind it. When all is in readiness for their departure
there is a public meeting held in the school-house of the district, for
*In addition an annual quit rent of three shillings sterling-
.
12
the people are unwilling that they should leave without some testi-monial
of their regard. A paper drawn up by the* school-master is
adopted and delivered, signed, to the emigrants. This I copy from
the yellow and time-stained original. It is preserved in the family as
a precious heirloom.
"To all persons whom these shall concern'—Greeting : Whereas,
T. T. and Ann, his wife, the bearers hereof, are determined, God will-ing,
to remove with their family in order to settle in some parts of
his Majesty's new settlements, and as divers of us have been well
acquainted with them from their early youth, we do certify you that
they are of a sober, honest, peaceable and good behaviour and are
about to depart in the good esteem of the neighborhood and acquaint-ances
in general. Therefore, as such we commend them to the favor-able
reception of those among whom it may be their lot to sojourn
and settle, heartily wishing their prosperity and welfare on all ac-counts.
"In testimony whereof, we, their friends and neighbors, inhabitants
of the township of Heidelberg and places adjacent in the county of
Berks, in the Province of Pennsylvania, have hereunto set our hands,
the 14th day of May, Anno Domini 1752." Then the signatures follow.
They commenced their long and tedious journey soon after this
paper was given them. All along the way Sunday was to them a
Sabbath of rest, and probably of praise and thanksgiving. During the
week-days they made on an average ten miles a day, so they would
arrive at their new home about the first of August. As they would
pass through the settlements in Maryland and Virginia, they would
be met with words of cheer, and there they could replenish their sup-plies
of food. When, wearied and footsore, they arrived at the end of
their long journey, "the neighbors flocked to welcome them and to aid
them in establishing their new home. That home was established
about eight miles north of the present town of Hillsboro, and is still
in the possession of some of the descendants of the original owners.
This family is a type of the Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish settlers.
Many others came in the ensuing five years, quite often several fami-lies
joining in the migration, and Eno soon became one of the most
thickly settled sections of Orange County. By 1755 they had built a
log school-house and church, seven miles north of Hillsboro. At this
church, or rather school-house, for it was never dedicated as a church,
Rev. Hugh McAdeh preached as he journeyed through the country in
1755. In the same year there was a regular Presbyterian Church
organized there, and soon after a frame building was erected, the log
house continuing to be used as a school-house. The church organiza-tion
exists to the present day, being now 157 years old, but in the
spring of 1895 a forest fire destroyed the old church building, and the
new one was erected at the village of Cedar Grove, some miles off.
At the old site, however, there is a very large and well-filled grave-yard,
in which four generations of Scotch-Irish have been buried.
13
The church and the school-house have always been, and always will
be, the mainstay of this admirable race. They realized, as few other
races of men have realized it, that the church without the school-house
was a fosterer of superstition, while the school-house without
the church was a promoter of irreligion and infidelity. So, close by
their churches they built their school-houses, and over* the doors of
both they inscribed in living letters, "The Lord He is God." This,
it seems to me, is the key to their character and the secret of their
greatness.
The criminal records of Orange County, from its organization to the
present day, show that there was less immorality and crime among
the Scotch-Irish than among any other class of people within its
bounds. At all periods of its history they have been most valuable
citizens. But this is not all. Their sons have gone out into many
other States, carrying with them the respect for law, morality and
religion which characterized them at home. Many of them have at-tained
distinction in the various walks of life, and all of them have
been useful men and women.
THE REGULATORS.
BY E. C. BROOKS, TRINITY COLLEGE, DURHAM, N. C.
The first settlers in North Carolina came by way of the sound along
the eastern coast. They came in boats, hunting better pastures, more
game. In these early times there were no roads, no plantations, no
homes, save the Indian wigwams and the little garden-patch around
the village. The eastern coast, with its rivers, sound and lakes, was
a hunting paradise. Soon the fame of this "Summer Country" spread
abroad. Immigrants flocked thither "in great numbers, coming by boat.
Colony after colony came. They pushed up the rivers, settling along
the banks until they reached the falls of the river. This is called in
geography the "fall line." It crosses the Roanoke at Weldon, the Tar
at North Rocky Mount, the Neuse near Smithfield, the Cape Fear
above Fayetteville. For nearly a hundred years after the first set-tlement
there were no white inhabitants living beyond the "fall line."
To the west of the fall line, extending to the Mississippi River, was
an immense territory, inhabited by Indians and as unknown to the
people living along the rivers of the east as the heart of Africa is to-day
to the average student. This territory belonged to North Caro-lina.
About the year 1735 settlers came, some from Pennsylvania, bring-ing
their wives and children on horseback. They came across the
States of Maryland and Virginia and settled in what one now calls
the counties of Alamance and Orange. There were Scotch and Scotch-
Irish, who spoke the dialect of their country. There were Germans,
who spoke the German language. There were settlers from Holland,
who spoke the language of the Hollanders. These settlers were un-acquainted
with the people living along the rivers and sounds of the
east. They took no* part in their government, but built their homes
and churches, cleared the land and lived to themselves. It was neces-sary
to open up trade. They needed salt for their food, and other
things they could not make. A road was opened to the Cape Fear
River. This landing was then called Cross Creek ; now it is known as
Fayetteville. Another road was opened to the Neuse, which connected
with New Bern. After a few years the county of Orange was formed,
and at or near the crossing of the roads from Cape Fear and the
Neuse the little town of Hillsboro was formed. These settlements
now became a part of North Carolina.
The State was now divided into two distinct parts—those living
below the "fall line," in direct communication by boats with the out-side
world, and those living above the fall line, who had to haul
15
their produce seventy-five or one hundred miles on rough roads to
Cross Creek, the nearest market. All the law-makers and the King's
officers lived in tbe east.
There was scarcely any money in the province, and what there was
circulated in the east. Trade consisted in exchanging one kind of
goods for another. For instance, tobacco was exchanged for clothing
or salt. Tbe people paid their rents or their taxes in tobacco or bides
or some other product. The settlements above the fall line had little
or no dealings outside of exchanging their goods with the eastern
counties ; but the eastern counties made the laws, levied the taxes
and frequently furnished the officers to collect the taxes. The King's
officers controlled all the land, and frequently the settlers above the
fall line we're put to a great deal of inconvenience to get titles to
their lands. These things caused the settlers in tbe Orange and Ala-mance
sections to feel unkindly toward the officers of the east. The
unprincipled conduct of tbe land officers even caused the eastern set-tlers
to rise up in revolt.
In the meantime settlers were pouring in from the north and from
the south. They built their homes in what are now Guilford, Forsyth,
Davidson, Rowan, Mecklenburg and other adjoining counties. The
road was extended from Hillsboro to Salisbury and Charlotte. They
were having the same trouble in securing land and in marketing their
produce, and there was a growing discontent against the officers of
the east who controlled the government and made 'the laws for the
State. It was with difficulty that these western counties could secure
representatives even in the Legislature.
To make matters more oppressive for the western settlers, the cir-culating
medium was now changed. They could no longer pay their
taxes in tobacco or hides, but they were required to pay in money.
There was scarcely any money in the middle and western settlements.
The officers could not accept anything but money. This caused great
distress. The Assembly in the east tried repeatedly to remove the
trouble, but their action would be vetoed by the royal government in
England.
The people in the west could not pay their taxes in money, yet pub-lic
officials came among them, at times threatening them, at other
times seizing their property, and at other times selling their goods for
a mere pittance. The misconduct of these officers was enough to
arouse the settlers. The province was in debt. The Assembly had
built a great palace for the Governor at New Bern. They had bor-rowed
money to equip an army for the French and Indian War. The
east, though, was the government. The western settlers did not, in
the first place, like the idea of paying taxes for these things, but
these would have been tolerated if they could have raised the money
;
and, since they had no money to pay with, it was too much for them
to stand and see their goods taken from them by unprincipled officers
who were living off of their distress.
16
As early as 1766 the settlers around Hillsboro met at Maddoek's
Mill, on the Eno River, to consider the state of affairs. It was a
serious meeting. They desired to regulate this trouble; hence the
name "Regulators." The conditions did not improve. In 1767 an-other
meeting was called at Sandy Creek, in Randolph County, near
the Orange County line. The next year a second meeting was called
at Haddock's Mill. They here resolved to pay no greater taxes than
the law provided, to see that the taxes were properly applied, to exer-cise
the right of petitioning the Governor, the Legislature and even
the King, and to join in defraying the expenses of presenting their
case in the manner preferred. This was followed by a demand that
the public officers should give an account of their stewardship.
The settlers in the entire middle and western North Carolina were
feeling the injustice keenly. Riots broke out in Anson, Mecklenburg
and Rowan Counties. In Orange the feeling was very intense—so
much so that in April, 1768, when the Sheriff levied on a horse be-cause
the taxes had flot been paid, and carried it to Hillsboro, the
people arose in open rebellion, marched into Hillsboro about 160
strong, took the horse and bound the Sheriff with ropes. By this
time the mob was wild. They maltreated other inhabitants, shot up
the town and terrified the entire community. It was frenzied wrath
broke loose.
The chief officer of Hillsboro, against whom the wrath was directed,
was Edmund Fanning, lawyer and Clerk of the Court. He had been
guilty of taking illegal fees, and was the chief officer of the govern-ment
in this section of the State. Fanning was a man of considerable
ability ; but he did not sympathize with the people in their troubles,
and they knew it.
Fanning was absent from Hillsboro when this riot broke out. He
returned at once and notified Governor Tryon, at Wilmington, and
proposed that vigorous methods be used for punishing the leaders and
for prohibiting another uprising. The Governor heard of the riots in
Anson. In July he went in person to Hillsboro, with a view of pacify-ing
the people. The Regulators were warned to desist from their law-lessness,
and he promised that any officer who had been guilty of dis-honest
practices should be held to account for the same. Governor
Tryon marched through Orange, Rowan, Mecklenburg and Anson
Counties with a small force of between two and three hundred.
A court was convened at Hillsboro to try the rioters and the officers
for illegal practices. Three of the Regulators were found guilty and
fined heavily. The magistrates and the clerk were found guilty of
taking too high fees and made to pay a nominal fine. Colonel Fanning
was the Register, and when convicted he resigned his office. Tryon
was at Hillsboro with his militia to see that the courts were not
molested. After the trial the trouble seemed to be over. The Gov-ernor
now pardoned all others who had been in the recent riots and
returned home.
17
The leader of the Regulators was Hermon Husband. For a time
everything was quiet, but tbe cause bad not been removed. Tbe peo-ple
were not satisfied with tbe courts. While the officers had been
found guilty, yet their punishment was not sufficient to satisfy the
Regulators. As a consequence they lost confidence in the courts.
When court convened in Hillsboro again, September 24, 1770, Her-mon
Husband and others came into court. They said they bad come
to see justice done, and they demanded that their cases be tried. They
were severe on the lawyers present. When their demands were not
acceded to, they pulled the judge from the bench, broke up tbe court,
dragged Fanning by his heels from the court-room and maltreated
William Hooper and others. They next turned on Fanning's house,
tore it down, whipped publicly some of the citizens who sided with
the courts, swarmed through the streets, breaking up property. Next
day they opened a mock court and proceeded with a mock trial, at
the same time making foolish entries in the court records.
When Governor Tryon heard of these outbreaks he called the
Assembly together. These outrages were considered an insult to the
government. Hermon Husband was sent as a member from Orange.
He was considered in contempt and was expelled from the House.
After his expulsion he was arrested and put in jail. The Regulators
threatened to march down on New Bern. Feeling was running high.
The grand jury failed to make out a case against Husband and he
was released. The Governor issued proclamations against the up-rising
of the people, but it availed nothing. The Assembly next passed
a Riot Act, directed against the Regulators. This act made such
conduct as the Regulators had been guilty of treason and punishable
by death. This had the opposite effect from that desired. They con-sidered
the Assembly in league with the King and their enemy, and
they acted accordingly.
In March, 1771, sixty-two bills of indictment were brought against
Husband and other Regulators. The Assembly voted the Governor an
appropriation with which to raise an army and put down the revolts.
Tbe leading men of the Assembly were officers under Tryon, who took
personal command. One division of the militia, under General Wad-dell,
marched from Wilmington through the Anson, Mecklenburg and
Rowan sections, while Tryon marched through Johnston, Wake and
Orange. The purpose was to join the two armies near Hillsboro.
The Regulators hindered General Waddell, and his ammunition was
destroyed by the "Black Boys" of Cabarrus. Then he was opposed at
Salisbury by a force so threatening that he was unable to cross the
Yadkin.
Governor Tryon marched through Hillsboro, across the Haw, on
the road leading to Salisbury, and pitched his camp on Great Ala-mance
Creek. The Regulators had gathered together a large band of
about two thousand men. When Tryon's army drew near the Regu-lators
presented another petition to the Governor, requesting a re-
N. C. Day—
3
18
dress of their wrongs. The Governor replied that they must first lay
down their arms and submit to the government, pay their taxes and
return peaceably to their homes, with a solemn assurance that they
would not again interfere with the courts.
In the meantime Capt. John Walker and Lieut. John B. Ashe
had been captured by the Regulators and cruelly beaten. Tryon
had in prison several of the Regulators, and he sent a messenger
to the leader of the Regulators, asking that the same treatment be
accorded the King's officers that the Governor was according the
Regulators. The Regulators were unreasonable, and the Governor
proceeded to march down upon them. The Regulators were defiant;
the Governor was determined. Word was sent that he would fire on
them if they did not disperse. The reply came that he could "fire."
The Governor gave the order, but his men did not obey. Then, rising
in his stirrups, he exclaimed: "Fire! Fire on them or on me!" This
sent forth a volley, and the battle began.
This was May 16, 1771. The battle lasted about two hours. The
Regulators at once took to tree-fighting, as they had been accustomed
to in fighting the Indians. Tryon ordered the woods to be burnt, and
soon he had the whole army of Regulators fleeing in every direction.
Thus ended the Battle of Alamance, which was fought on the land of
Capt. Michael Holt, in what is now Alamance County, about nine
miles southwest of Burlington.
Governor Tryon had nine killed and sixty-one wounded. The loss
among the Regulators was in all probability much greater than this,
although there is no authentic record to draw the exact number from.
James Few, one of the Regulators captured, was hanged next day.
Many other prisoners were taken. Twelve were tried, but only six
were executed. The Governor now offered a general pardon to all
engaged if they would return peaceably to their homes, desist in their
lawlessness and pay their taxes. There were, however, a few excep-tions,
among them Husband, the Black Boys of Cabarrus and a few
other conspicuous characters.
Hermon Husband did not remain and fight, but fled, leaving his
compatriots to bear the burden. He left the State and settled in Penn-sylvania,
where later he was implicated in the whiskey riots of that
State.
The Regulators had a real grievance. They were isolated from the
great eastern and commercial sections, they had little voice in the
government, and their representatives were either court officers, who
knew them not, or unwise leaders like Hermon Husband. They were
unable to raise money to pay their taxes, and the officers were guilty
of much extortion and abuse. They desired these evils to be reme-died,
and the Assembly was unable to give redress. The Governor
and the Assembly made attempts to pacify them, but when the Regu-lators
and the officers were tried in the same court the Regulators
were fined heavily and the officers were set free, with a nominal fine.
19
The injustice rankled in their hearts. They had no great leader to
direct them, and their opposition was lawless and brutal. The effect
of these infuriated outbreaks affected the Assembly more than the
justice of their outcries. They "drank damnation to King George"
and swore vengeance on all clerks and lawyers. In their frantic out-cries
against corruption they saw dimly the source of all their
wrongs. They traced it back through clerks and officers to the head
of all—the King—and they fought all who sided with clerks and law-yers.
Hence, they fought organized State government, they fought
their own people, and, theoretically, they fought their own laws.
They were fighting, however, real, not imagined wrongs.
Many of the Regulators left the State; many entered the Revolution
and became patriots; many remained neutral. This great upheaval,
growing out of economic conditions, soon became insignificant in com-parison
with the great struggle with England.
THE CAPTURE OF CHARLOTTE BY CORNWALLIS.
BY M. C. S. NOBLE, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
After Lord Cornwallis had captured Charleston, S. C, in May, 1780,
he determined to march northward through South Carolina, North
Carolina and Virginia, subduing the patriots and re-establishing the
royal rule as he marched along.
His victory over Gates at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina,
gave him fresh courage, and he at once set out to the north, little
dreaming that by the time he should reach Virginia he would be so
weakened by hard-fought battles and long, weary marches that he
would fall an easy prey to the combined force of Washington and his
French allies.
He had often been told, and he, too, easily believed, that there were
many loyalists in the part of North Carolina through which he had
planned to pass who were ready to join the royal cause and who
were anxiously awaiting the coming of the forces of the King. In
fact, so certain was he of the people's desire for him to come among
them that he sent them word to stay on the farms and gather their
crops, so that when he did come along later in the year he might find
abundant supplies for his troops in the hoped-for conquering march
to the north.
Directly in his line of march lay the little town of Charlotte, in
which, on May 20, 1775, the men of Mecklenburg County had de-clared
their independence of Great Britain, and, as an evidence of
their earnestness, had pledged their lives, their fortunes and their
sacred honor to the defense of liberty and political independence.
And now, at the coming of the King's army, these bold patriots were
to have an opportunity of redeeming their pledge by offering up their
lives on the altar of liberty, at the very place where, five years be-fore,
they had kindled the fires of revolt.
Col. William Richardson Davie, with but a handful of patriots,
hung about the British column and opposed its advance from day to
day ; and when the enemy drew near to Charlotte, he, assisted by
Maj. Joseph Graham, made ready for its defense.
The only two streets of which the little town of twenty houses
could then boast crossed each other at right angles, and a two-story
brick court-house stood at their intersection. Davie dismounted his
cavalry, posted them behind a stone wall in front of the court-house,
stationed Graham's volunteers on either side of the street along which
the enemy were expected to advance, and awaited their coming.
21
Soon Tarleton's legion, led by Major Hanger because of Tarleton's
sickness, made an assault upon Davie's forces, who poured such a
deadly fire into the advancing column that it had to fall back. Once
more it assaulted, and once more it was forced to fall back. At this
time "Lord Cornwallis rode up in person and made use of these
words : 'Legion, remember you have everything to lose, but nothing
to gain,' alluding, it is supposed, to the former reputation of this
corps. Webster's brigade moved on, drove the Americans from be-hind
the court-house; the legion then pursued them, but the whole
British army was actually kept at bay for some minutes by a few
mounted Americans, not exceeding twenty in number."
Although Davie had been driven out of Charlotte by superior num-bers,
the brave men of Mecklenburg did not count themselves de-feated.
They at once began to harrass Cornwallis and attack his men
whenever they went from headquarters into the country to search for
supplies. Daily his foraging parties were attacked by the patriots
and driven back to camp at Charlotte. In fact, the whole region
round about was ever ready to fight the forces of the King, and "the
counties of Mecklenburg and Rowan were more hostile to England
than any others in America. The vigilance and animosity of these
surrounding districts checked the exertions of the well-affected and
totally destroyed all communication between the King's troops and
the loyalists in other parts of the province."
On one occasion a party of English was sent out from Charlotte on
a foraging expedition. A little plow-boy saw them coming, unhitched
his horse, rode away and gave the alarm. Soon twelve neighbors,
armed with rifles, rallied near Mclntire's farm, situated on the road
along which the British were coming. The red-coats came up to the
farm-house, from which the family had just made its escape, and
began to load their wagons with grain and forage, catch the poultry
and kill the pigs and cattle. One soldier accidentally overturned a
bee-hive and immediately the bees began to sting his comrades. The
big, red-faced leader of the English began to laugh most heartily at
the fun. Mclntire and his comr.ades saw it all, and, angered beyond
control at the destruction of property, one of them cried out, "Boys, I
can't stand this. I take the captain. Every one choose his man and
look to yourselves." Then the sharp report of their rifles rang out on
the air and "nine men and two horses fell dead on the ground."
A trumpet blast called the English to arms. The. twelve patriots
ran to another part of the woods, again emptied their rifles and again
changed position to fire once more with telling effect upon the enemy.
In a few minutes the frightened English were in full retreat from
what they thought was a well-planned attack by an outnumbering foe.
All this was done by twelve men of Mecklenburg, one of whom lies
buried at Charlotte, with this inscription on his tombstone
:
22
Sacked to the Memory
of-
MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE GRAHAM,
Who Died on the 29th of March, 1826, in the 68th Year
of His Age.
He Lived More than Half a Century in the Vicinity of This
Place, and was a Zealous and Active Defender of His
Country's Rights
in the
REVOLUTIONARY WAR,
And was One of the Gallant Twelve who Dared to Attack
and Actually Drove 400 British Troops at McIntire's,
Seven Miles North of Charlotte, on the
3d. of October, 1780.
George Graham Filled Many High and Responsible Public
Trusts, the Duties of which He Discharged with
Fidelity. He was the People's Friend, not
Their Fetterer, and Uniformly En-joyed
the Unlimited Confidence
and Respect of His
Fellow-citizens.
Cornwallis now began to realize that he was in the enemy's country,
without food for his men, without forage for his horses, and without
friends among the people in the country round about ; and so, when he
heard of the American victory at King's Mountain, he retreated into
South Carolina, after a sixteen days' stay in Charlotte, which he
afterwards called a "hot-bed of rebellion" and "that hornets' nest,"
and of which even his aid wrote in a letter to a brother British
officer : "Charlotte is an agreeable village, but in a . . . rebellious
country."
And now that we have come to the end of our necessarily brief
story of Cornwallis' first invasion of North Carolina and his stay in
Charlotte, where North Carolina men had made their bold and glori-ous
Declaration of Independence, let us read the following, which will
show us how determined the women of Mecklenburg were to help
along the cause of liberty which had been so bravely espoused by the
men
:
"Nor were the ladies in Mecklenburg in any degree inferior in en-thusiasm
to the male population. The young ladies of the best fami-
23
lies of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, have entered into a vol-untary
association that they will not receive the addresses of any
young gentlemen at that place except the brave volunteers who served
in the expedition to South Carolina, * * * the ladies being of the
opinion that such persons as stay loitering at home when the important
calls of the country demand their military services abroad must cer-tainly
be destitute of that nobleness of sentiment, that brave, manly
spirit which would qualify them to be the defenders and guardians of
the fair sex."
BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN.
BY W. C. ALLEN.
No battle of the Revolutionary War was more decisive in its results
than the Battle of King's Mountain, for it forced Cornwallis to aban-don,
for a time at least, his purpose to conquer North Carolina, and
unquestionably hastened the overthrow of that enterprising leader at
Yorktown. To give a 'brief account of that battle and the events
leading up to it is the purpose of this sketch.
After the capture of Charleston, South Carolina, by the British, and
the subsequent conquest of that State in the spring and summer of
1780, Sir Henry Clinton, commander-in-chief of the British force's in
America, went to New York, leaving Lord Cornwallis in command of
the southern department. That experienced general resolved at once
upon the final conquest of North Carolina.
Accordingly, he dispatched to the western part of South Carolina
Col. Patrick Ferguson, with 150 British regulars, under orders to
embody the loyalists in that section and to proceed with them to the
foot-hills of North Carolina and arouse the Tories there. In the mean-time
the main body under Cornwallis himself was to march by slow
stages to the North Carolina line and await the successful conclusion
of Ferguson's venture before advancing further.
Ferguson, who was a Scotchman of the highest integrity and
bravery, set out upon his mission with confidence and enthusiasm. In
the western part of South Carolina he found many loyalists ready to
enlist under his banner. His force soon swelled to more than six hun-dred.
With them he began his march upon North Carolina.
Before he had proceeded far on his northward journey he found
his path blocked by an active and fearless foe. This was a body of
patriots under Colonels Shelby, of North Carolina ; Williams, of South
Carolina, and Clark, of Georgia. These men had been sent there by
Col. Charles McDowell, who was in command of that department, to
watch the movements of Ferguson and, if possible, to attack his force
and disperse it.
For some days there was a series of skirmishes between the two
commands, without material result. Finally, on August 19th, Shelby
attacked a large body of Tories at Musgrove's Mill, on Broad River,
won a signal victory over them, and, with Clark and Williams, was
planning to pursue them in their retreat upon Ninety-six. Just then
the news of the disastrous Battle of Camden reached their ears, and
with those tidings came orders from Colonel McDowell to Colonel
Shelby, directing him to fall back toward the mountains with his
forces. The receipt of such news created a panic among the patriots
and they retreated with precipitation—Shelby and his forces across
the Blue Ridge into what is now Tennessee, and Clark and Williams
25
toward Augusta, Ga. Iu the meantime Cornwallis, after his victory
at Camden, marched upon Charlotte, which he captured, after a sharp
conflict with a small force of North Carolinians under Majors William
R. Davie and Joseph Graham. There he halted to get news from Fer-guson.
That officer was now advancing into North Carolina. As soon
as Shelby, Clark and Williams had dispersed from his front, with his
regulars and some six hundred loyalists, Ferguson, about the first of
September, advanced to Gilberttown, near the site of the present town
of Rutherfordton. There he halted and, by proclamation, ordered all
enemies of the King to lay down their arms and beg for pardon. At
the same time he called upon all friends of the royal cause to join his
standard. In response to this call the Tories of the western counties
flocked to Gilberttown until Ferguson found himself at the head of
sixteen hundred men. In a boastful way he sent word to Colonel
Shelby that he and his followers must submit to British rule, or death
and destruction would be visited upon them.
This was a time of darkness and gloom for the American cause.
Patriot armies had been defeated, both in the north and the south,
and despair seemed to be settling upon the hearts of the young nation's
strongest men. Yet, under all the discouraging circumstances of the
times, the brave spirits of the western counties of North Carolina
never lost hope. In their mountain homes the stalwart soldiers of
that day prayed a prayer :
"Oh, Heaven ! our bleeding country save
!
Is there no hand on high to shield the brave?
What though destruction sweeps these lovely plains
!
Rise, fellow-men, our country yet remains
;
By thy dread name we wave the sword on high,
And swear by her to live ! for her to die !"
In the midst of this gloom, still farther toward the west there was
gathering a storm which was destined to overwhelm Ferguson and
put a new spirit into the languishing cause of the colonies. Colonels
Shelby, Sevier, McDowell, Cleveland and Winston, the boldest spirits
of the west, were" getting ready to strike a telling blow for freedom
and for home.
These bold spirits went from settlement to settlement on the Wa-tauga
and the Nollichucky Rivers and in the Valley of the Tennessee,
arousing the spirit of freedom in the hardy yeomen of the hills. On
the 25th if September a meeting was held at Sycamore Shoals, on the
Watauga River, and a thousand sturdy backwoodsmen, with hunting
rifles and knives, were there. The following forces assembled
:
From Burke and Rutherford, under Colonel McDowell 160
From Wilkes and Surry, under Cleveland and Winston 350
From Washington (now Tennessee), under Colonel Sevier 240
From Sullivan (now Tennessee), under Colonel Shelby 240
From Washington, Va., under Colonel Campbell 400
Total 1,390
26
This was the army of mountain men that met with grim determina-tion
written upon their faces. They bade farewell to friends and
relatives who came to see them off, and, with a prayer and a blessing
from Parson Doak, who told them to smite the enemy with the sword
of the Lord and of Gideon, they set out upon their search for Fergu-son
and his minions, resolved to destroy them. By day and night
they traveled through the defiles of the mountains. *
On October 1st, after a rainy day, they halted at Quaker Meadows,
the home of Col. Charles McDowell, in Burke County, for consulta-tion.
McDowell was the ranking officer, as it was in his district. He
was, however, loath to hold authority over such men as Sevier, Cleve-land,
Shelby and Campbell. He therefore proposed to go to Gates'
headquarters at Hillsboro and ask for a general officer to be sent to
command the army. His proposition met with approval, and next
morning he set out upon his journey, leaving Col. Joseph McDowell,
his brother, in command of his division of the troops.
After the departure of McDowell the matter was further discussed.
Colonel Shelby made the point that time was slipping away, and that
Ferguson would escape them if they waited for the return of Mc-
Dowell. He strongly urged that a commander be selected from among
themselves, and, with a generosity peculiar to brave men, put Colonel
Campbell, of Virginia, in nomination. The nomination was unani-mously
adopted, all of the North Carolina officers thus expressing
their courtesy to the Virginia gentleman. That done, they proceeded
on their way and came to the neighborhood of Gilberttown, intending
to attack Ferguson there. At that place they were joined by Col.
John Williams, of South Carolina, with a few hundred patriots from
that State.
Ferguson, however, had not waited to weather the storm there. He
retreated to the border of North and South Carolina and entrenched
himself on the top of King's Mountain, an elevation that extends
from east to west and is 500 yards long and from 60 to 70 yards wide.
On the top of that naturally fortified place the British leader infa-mously
boasted that God Almighty could not drive him from it.
Meanwhile the patriot band, which Ferguson was trying to escape,
was drawing nearer. Leaving Gilberttown, the mountain men pushed
on after the fleeing foe. At the Cowpens, in South Carolina, on Octo-ber
6th, a council of war was held by the leaders, and it was unani-mously
agreed that the fleetest horsemen should be selected and with
them hurry on to attack the foe before he could reach Cornwallis at
Charlotte. When the entire force was drawn up in line and the pur-pose
stated to them, volunteers were called for. Every man volun-teered.
Then a selection of 910 men, with the best horses, was made,
and with that force the undaunted leaders pushed on.
Uncertain as to where Ferguson was, they marched with caution.
They expected to find him encamped on Broad River, but at that
point they learned that he was on King's Mountain, some miles farther
27
on. Here it was decided to divide the force into four columns, and in
that way proceed upon their hunt for the enemy. Colonels Joseph
McDowell and Joseph Winston were placed at the head of the right-hand
column ; Colonels Cleveland and Williams at the head of the
left, and Colonels Shelby and Sevier led the two middle columns.
Col. William Campbell was in command of the whole.
In that order the columns advanced until they came within a few
hundred yards of the foot of the mountain, when all dismounted, tied
their horses, formed in battle array and marched toward Ferguson's
fortified position. The center, under Shelby and Sevier, advanced up
the sides of the mountain, while the right and left wings swung round
and surrounded the British on all sides. Ferguson was thus com-pletely
hemmed in. As the columns under Shelby and Sevier reached
the summit they were furiously assailed by Ferguson and his men
with the bayonet. For a time the Americans were beaten back, but
rallied and again rushed to the attack. Just at that time the column
under Cleveland and Williams gained the summit on the other side
and began to pour into the British ranks a destructive fire. To meet
that fresh attack Ferguson turned and charged them with his mounted
infantry. The Americans held their ground, and from behind trees
and rocks shot down the troopers as they advanced in a gallop.
Shelby and Sevier also followed hard upon the enemy and threw
them into confusion. About the same time McDowell and Winston
reached the top from their side and began to fire upon the doomed foe.
Ferguson, however, like a lion at bay, rallied his regulars and
turned upon these new-comers with fixed bayonets. For a brief time
he carried everything before him, but his men were falling thick and
fast and he was forced up the hill, with his ranks greatly reduced.
All the American troops had reached the summit by this time, and
the surviving British troops were huddled together in the center. In
this supreme moment Colonel Ferguson, who was no coward, blew his
whistle for the last charge. At the head of his devoted band he
spurred forward, but before the line had gone two hundred yards
Ferguson fell dead, pierced by thirteen bullets. Those of his fol-lowers
who escaped the same fate threw down their arms and surren-dered
themselves prisoners of war. A magnanimous foe spared their
lives.
The losses in this battle were heavy, considering the numbers en-gaged.
Of the British and Tories there were two colonels, three cap-tains
and 201 privates killed, one major and 127 privates wounded
and left on the ground not able to march ; one colonel, twelve captains,
eleven lieutenants, two ensigns, one quartermaster, one adjutant, two
commissaries, eighteen sergeants and 600 privates taken prisoners.
Total loss of the British and Tories, 1,105—the entire command. Of
the patriots there were killed one colonel (Williams), one major, one
captain, two lieutenants, four ensigns, nineteen privates ; total, 28.
28 •
Wounded, one major, three captains, three lieutenants, fifty-three pri-vates;
total, 60.
After the battle the patriots encamped on the battle-field until next
day, when they departed with their prisoners, having buried the dead.
A few days after, in Rutherford County, the principal officers held a
court martial and condemned thirty-two of the worst Tory prisoners
they had to death. They commenced hanging them, three at a time,
until nine had been hanged. * The others were respited. Giving their
prisoners and captured arms over to the proper authorities, the moun-tain
men returned to their homes, having been away less than a
month. In that time they had achieved one of the most notable victo-ries
of the war.
Upon hearing the fatal news, Cornwallis broke camp at Charlotte
and retreated to Winnsboro, S. C, saying that Charlotte was the
worst hornets' nest he had ever seen.
MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.
REV. DR. S. F. SMITH.
My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing
;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring.
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills,
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake,
Let all that breathe partake.
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
Our fathers' God, to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!
REV. DAVID CALDWELL, D. D.
BY JOSEPH M. MOEEHEAD.
Usefulness is the highest test of human excellence. It is true, in
instances, circumstances beyond the control of the individual may-have
prevented the discovery of true, innate greatness. But when a
human being has devoted a long and eminently successful life to the
elevation and benefaction of his fellows, the benevolence, wisdom and
strength of the man are apparent. It is unlawful to draw parallels
or institute comparisons between the life of the Saviour and that of
any mere man; and yet, in reviewing the life of David Caldwell, we
are struck with these coincidences. David, too, was a carpenter.
Like his great Examplar, he left his bench at the age of twenty-five,
and like him, too, henceforth went about doing good to others. It is
probable that his father, a well-to-do Pennsylvania farmer, had sent
him to the schools of the day. But, as was the custom of his own and
of Paul's times, the young David was apprenticed, that he might ac-quire
one of the useful callings of life. At about twenty-five years of
age he declared his purpose of acquiring learning and of becoming a
minister of the church of his choice. He at once pledged his patri-mony
in order to raise the requisite funds, and, supplementing this
by teaching as occasion required, he entered upon and successfully
finished a thirteen years' course of indefatigable labor. Having at-tended
the necessary course in a classical school, taken his bachelor's
degree from Princeton College, written his Latin exegesis and stood
the required examination on the sciences, etc., he was licensed to
preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, June, 1763, in his thirty-seventh
year. Soon thereafter he was sent as missionary to Mecklen-burg,
North Carolina, and in 1768 was installed pastor of Buffalo and
Alamance churches, in Guilford. Here the opportunity of his life was
presented, and the true, great man was equal to the great emergency.
His influence as a missionary lingers in Mecklenburg County and
elsewhere in North Carolina to this day. His success as a minister
was evident from the large and influential churches left by him at
the close of a pastorate of fifty years and more. Under Dr. Caldwell's
ministration and through his influence fifty ministers were added to
the church of Christ—seven in one day to his own Presbytery of
Orange.
The crying necessity of the age and country for schools was appa-rent,
and Dr. Caldwell determined to supply it. Soon his school be-came
an educational center to the Southern States. "His log cabin
(school-house) served North Carolina many years as an academy, a
31
college and a theological seminary." "The attendance averaged from
fifty to sixty pupils—seldom fewer, sometimes more. Their subse-quent
history showed many of these to have been learned, earnest
men of the highest moral character. At home and abroad they filled
leading positions in both church and state, and indelibly impressed
themselves for good upon their times and country. There was now
presented another most meritorious appeal. It proved, of course, irre-sistible
to the noble nature whose sole ambition seems to have been
—
under God's direction—to plumb the path of duty. Learning and
general information being at a low ebb, there was not a trustworthy
physician within the broad bounds of his labors, and Dr. Caldwell
determined to minister to the sick. Always intelligent in his methods,
he at once secured from Philadelphia the standard medical works of
the day ; placed himself in communication by letter with a leading
physician of the same place, and, watching his opportunity, secured
from abroad the presence in his own home of a regularly graduated
and equipped practitioner. It is an affront to our judgment of men
and things to believe for a moment that a man of Dr. Caldwell's
known fine sense, push, pluck and fidelity to purpose ever failed of
excellency in any effort undertaken by him. More than this, with his
own strong arms and personal physical exertion, Dr. Caldwell gave
this country its first lesson in advanced, intelligent agriculture. His
farm was the neatest, his meadows the most luxuriant, and his sub-drains
the straightest, the staunchest and the best. Like other rock
memorials of other noble old Romans, his blind-ditches are with us
and doing service to-day. The extraordinary circumstances under
which he labored dictated and demanded at his hands his extraordi-nary
course.
The mere restless, ephemeral love of change, so characteristic of
weak, impracticable natures, found no place among the substantial
virtues of this sterling character, "Jack-at-all-trades and good at all,"
I recall as an expression of the late Governor Morehead. Doubtless
this quaint change in the old adage the pupil caught years before
from the preceptor whom he so greatly admired and whose memory
he so affectionately cherished throughout life.
It is said that, in his estimate of the moral worth of men, Napoleon
"acknowledged no criterion but success." Judged by this severe stand-ard,
Dr. Caldwell was a wonderful man. In the history of nations, at
long intervals generally, crises arise that demand the exercise of great
powers by great men. To these public benefactors, from obvious rea-sons,
full credit is usually and promptly accorded. It is different,
however, at times, with some other of earth's uncalendared saints
those rare spirits who seem gifted as by intuition with the ability to
wisely counsel, control and direct mankind in those daily emergencies
that confront us all. While this was pre-eminently the case with Dr.
Caldwell, it was also true that in his day was presented the issue of
32
slavish submission to wrong, unworthy of Englishmen, or war with
the well-nigh omnipotent mother country.
Appreciating fully his great responsibility, with a courage and in-telligence
entirely characteristic, he threw the weight of his great
name in favor of human rights and American liberty. Whether in
impassioned eloquence from the pulpit or upon his knees in the
thicket a refugee, his voice was ever raised in behalf of his country.
Living, practicing and preaching in the midst of the Regulators, he
knew personally these men, their wives and their little ones ; he was
acquainted fully with their grievances and their purposes, and he
was their staunch friend always.
Throughout the spring and early summer of 1768, and before, the
Regulators, now largely become the people, had wearied the ear of
patience and of reason with the solemn asseveration of their oppres-sive
taxation and other wrongs. Repeatedly, dispassionately and
most humbly they had petitioned the proper authorities for at least
a hearing in these regards, but in vain. It suited the ambitious sol-dier,
Tryon, to proceed otherwise, and he backed with power and pre-ferment
his satellite—the villainous tax-gatherer. In pursuance of
the only course now left them, the people determined to pay no more
taxes until it should be shown that their collection and disbursement
were lawful. Society was now, of course, sadly disorganized and de-moralized.
The danger of the situation was manifest to all thought-ful
men, and it became the duty of all such to relieve the stress, if
possible. About the first of July, Tryon came to Hillsboro and re-mained
in this section for two months or more. Knowing that Dr.
Caldwell and three other Presbyterian ministers here had great
weight with the Presbyterians west, suppressing his real intent and
purposes, with false promises made to be broken, Tryon wickedly de-ceived
this good man, or, if Caldwell was not entirely deceived, he at
least hoped for peaceable settlement of the difficulties, and did the
best possible under the circumstances. In a letter written at this
time and addressed to the Governor, these gentlemen congratulated
the country that Tryon himself had now espoused the cause of the
people and that their wrongs would be righted—their righteous de-mands
and all that they had ever asked. The published language of
this letter was, in part: "You (Tryon) have made the cause of the
poor so much your own as to ensure to them the redress of any griev-ances
they may labor under." At the same time these gentlemen ad-dressed
another letter to the people themselves, pleading the Gov-ernor's
promise "that justice will be done" as the reason of their
course, or at least why their advice should be taken, and expressing
their profound compassion for the people in their "distresses," they
told them, as they ought to have done: "Remember, brethren, the
remedy for oppression is within the compass of the laws." In 1771,
three years thereafter, standing literally between them and the mus-kets
of the murderous Tryon, he warned them that the moment for
33
effecting their righteous purposes had not yet arrived, and therefore
faithfully urged them to submit or disperse. A few weeks later, at
Hillsboro, nearly fifty miles from his home, his earnest efforts were
put forth in behalf of the prisoners then on trial for their lives, and
not of his own congregation, and failing partially in this, in view of
the gibbet he breathed into the ears of men about to die that comfort
and fortitude that the Scripture, under all conditions, ever brings to
the upright and the true. After the war he went to Pennsylvania,
and, enlisting the sympathies and active co-operation of the two Sena-tors
from North Carolina and others, he secured a pardon for Hermon
Husband.
That Dr. Caldwell should have entertained such disinterested and
pronounced friendship for a bad man or bad men is incredible. It is
a fact, moreover, that in ascertaining Dr. Caldwell's views and feel-ings
in regard to both the Regulators themselves and their cause, we
are not dependent upon inference. We have direct proof. The Hon.
D. F. Caldwell,* the last here of a line that has graced the annals of
North Carolina for more than a century, himself having frequently
been honored by the suffrages of his countrymen, and known to all, is
to-day a citizen of Greensboro. Mr. Caldwell tells me that he was
ten years old at the death of his grandfather, Dr. David Caldwell.
He states that he remembers him well and remembers conversations
had also with his own father and uncles for years afterwards, and
that he was the friend of and in sympathy with the Regulators, and
therefore strenuously advised them against the folly of taking up
arms at that time and under their then existing circumstances.
For months during the Revolutionary War from Tory and Briton
Caldwell fled for his life to kindly swamps around, and Cornwallis,
failing to secure his person by rewards offered, paid him the distin-guished
compliment of burning at different times and at different
places, as far as he had the power, every paper that was an emana-tion
of his brain. In peace, as in war, his talents were at the com-mand
of his country, and, together with the Regulator, Daniel Gil-lespie,
he represented Guilford (including Rockingham and Ran-dolph)
in the conventions that adopted both the State and Federal
Constitutions.f
While his great deeds have embedded his memory in the hearts of
his countrymen at large, to many of us in this particular section it is
held in especial reverence. He was the instructor of youth, the family
physician, the pastor and beloved friend of our fathers and mothers,
now dead and gone, and to him we gratefully accord our indebtedness
in a large degree for whatever of moral and intellectual culture we
possess. That Dr. Caldwell was an accomplished scholar, a man of
clear and vigorous intellect and a thorough-going Whig, the perusal of
a single sermon—"But the slothful shall be under tribute"—proves
* Deceased since article was written.
f Caruthers.
34
beyond all cavil. In 1824, in his one hundredth year, he died as he
had lived—energetically and with purpose. Realizing that the veto
of a hundred years rested upon his further usefulness in the flesh, he
longed and upon principle was eager to pass on to a new sphere of
active duty and its rewards. The ancient cedars of old Buffalo now
peacefully wave above Dr. Caldwell's first and last resting-place upon
earth—the immediate scene for more than fifty years of his own sad
labors—the saddest ever demanded at the hands of sympathetic hu-manity—
that of comforting the mourner over his recently deceased
and beloved dead. Hard by and in equally honored graves sleep the
friends' and coadjutors of his life—the Regulators—Col. Daniel Gil-lespie
and his brother, Colonel John, The Fearless. But yesterday,
with a heart full of admiration and of gratitude, dutifully and rever-ently
I wiped away from their lettered tombs time's envious mould,
that would obscure their fame. The example of the good and the
great ought not to die. He is a false utilitarian of hurtful views who
sees only waste in memorials to virtue. Boys may not read history,
but they are hero worshippers and bow in idolatry before their tombs.
May we never forget the grand men who have gone before, scattering
blessings as they went, and leaving records, in the imitation of which
lies both our glory and safety.
This summary of known facts is penned afresh because in the clear
light of true history lies the highest eulogium of our noble dead. It
is. also hoped that the attention of others may be called to the impor-tance
of publishing at once the many well-authenticated Revolution-ary
traditions still extant in North Carolina. It is an effort also to
keep alive in our midst the memory of men who dared and suffered
and accomplished so much for us. General Greene said, truly, that
the patriot, Howard, deserved a statue in gold. What shall be built
to Caldwell, where and by whom?
For,
"Where shall we rank thee
On history's page,
Thou more than patriot
—
Scarce less than sage?"
JAMES KNOX POLK (1795-1849).
BY MISS MARY AUGUSTA BERXAKI).
James Knox Polk, eleventh President of the United States, was a
descendant of Scotch-Irish colonists who came to North Carolina in
the early part of the eighteenth century. The family name was. then
Pollok. His father was a farmer, in moderate circumstances, with
ten children, of whom the future President was the eldest.
Polk was horn in Mecklenburg County, November 2, 1795. When
he was ten years old the family moved to Tennessee. He was at first
destined to be a merchant, but cared little for business ; so, in 1815,
he entered the University of North Carolina, where he graduated, in
1818, with highest honors. His career as a lawyer won him a great
local reputation, and he was elected to the State Legislature of Ten-nessee,
and afterwards to Congress, where he became known as a
prominent advocate of Democratic principles. He was Speaker of the
House during five sessions, served fourteen years in Congress, and
was elected Governor of Tennessee in 1839.
During the year 1844 a political campaign involving the destiny of
an immense tract of territory and more than thirty thousand people
absorbed the attention of both North and South. The leader of the
Whig party was Henry Clay, orator and statesman. He opposed the
annexation of Texas, and Polk, as a compromise candidate, was nomi-nated.
The announcement of this nomination was the first public dis-patch
that ever passed over a telegraph wire. The campaign cries of
the election, "Polk and Texas," and "Clay and no Texas," are famous.
Clay's attitude was unpopular and defeated him, for Polk was elected
by a majority of sixty-five electoral votes. Texas was admitted to
the Union in 1845, and the war with Mexico followed, resulting in
the further acquisition of California, New Mexico and Arizona.
During Polk's administration the boundary of Oregon was settled
by a treaty with England. Our government had insisted that the line
of separation should be 54 degrees 40 minutes, and the cry in the
United States was "Fifty-four forty, or fight." A compromise was
effected and war averted. Iowa and Wisconsin were admitted as
States, and gold was discovered in California, thus attracting a tide
of emigration to the Pacific coast. So great was the wealth and busi-ness
of the country as a result of these acquisitions that the Depart-ment
of the Interior was first established while Polk was President.
The organization of the Smithsonian Institution and the opening of
the Naval Academy at Annapolis were important events of this ad-ministration.
Two useful inventions—the sewing-machine, by Elias
36
Howe, and the cylinder printing press, by R. M. Hoe—added to the
comfort of the people and the diffusion of knowledge. Polk was an
advocate for a revenue tariff, which was established, and the pro-tective
system was not renewed until 1861.
Having pledged himself to a single term of office, Polk refused to
be renominated, and he retired to Nashville, Tennessee, where he
died, June 15, 1849, three months after he left Washington.
Although in his political career James K. Polk was identified with
Tennessee, it is to North Carolina that he owes his origin and educa-tion.
He was a man of deep religious principle and respectable
ability, a fine representative of those North Carolinians who have
inherited the best qualities of the sturdy Scotch-Irish stock which has
been such a strong element in the development of our State. He may
be considered a personification of that spirit of duty and service
which it is the pride of her children to consider the motive-power of
the Old North State.
ANDREW JACKSON (1767-1845).
BY E. W. SYKES, WAKE FOREST.
The most popular of all the Presidents of the United States was
Andrew Jackson. This popularity was due to bis personality, to the
rugged virtues be represented, and to the courage he always dis-played.
Born in Union County, in the Waxhaw settlement, he grew
to young manhood among the rugged pioneers of that frontier region,
where courage and bravery were the common possession of all. While
still a lad of thirteen, the British army, led by the redoubtable and
cruel Tarleton, struck the Waxhaws like a tornado and butchered
Colonel Buford's men, even after they bad surrendered, saying to
them, "We did not ask you to surrender." This young boy enlisted
in the company of Col. William R. Davie, which was composed largely
of young men from this neighborhood. Colonel Davie presented him
with a brace of small pistols and his uncle gave him a three-year-old
horse. This boy remained near Colonel Davie as his courier and was
in the fight at Hanging Rock. Bitter, indeed, was the strife among
Whig and Tory in this community, and one was as cruel as the other.
One Whig remarked, "Tories and rattlesnakes are all the same to me."
Young Jackson's mother was a most loyal Whig and gave her life for
the cause, dying of yellow fever near Charleston, where she had gone
to nurse the sick boys from the WTaxhaws, who were prisoners.
At the close of the Revolution young Jackson found himself alone
in the world, with no kinsman of the Jackson name in America. He
went to school some and then began to teach, and later to study law
under Spruce McKay, at Salisbury, and then under Montford Stokes.
The young lawyer felt that the older parts of North Carolina did not
furnish the opportunity for a young man so well as the western por-tion,
later known as Tennessee. Jackson, along with some of his
young legal friends, received Federal appointments, Jackson was
made District Attorney. Riding one horse and leading his pack-horse,
he crossed the mountains to his future home. He rose rapidly
in public esteem, helped organize the new State, and might have been
the first United States Senator, but chose the House of Representa-tives
that he might push some Indian claims for his new State. He
refused to return to Congress because it separated him from his wife,
whom he loved with a tender devotion. He returned to his home and
determined to eschew politics and become the best farmer and stock-raiser
in his State. He bought much land, some slaves, and did be-come
the most famous raiser of blooded horses in the west. Jackson
was happy on his farm. He purchased improved machinery, every
new variety of fruit, and loved his horses devotedly. To his slaves
he was very kind, and is said never to have refused one of them a
38
pass. He whipped one man for hitting* his trusty slave with a whip.
His last duty at night was to go to his stables and see that his famous
horse, Truxton, was all right.
But eschew politics he could not. Instead he became the political
boss of his State and made and unmade the political fortunes of men.
Jackson always said, "I am no politician." He was mistaken ; he was
a past-master in the art. He became the rival of Governor Sevier,
and, much to the disgust of the venerable old Revolutionary general,
was elected Major-General of the State Militia. He began at once the
study of tactics and military history. He ceased to be interested in
law and politics, but spent his time training the militia. For its
equipment he secured appropriations and spent lavishly of his own
purse.
In politics he was a Democrat, but had not been favorably impressed
with Jefferson. He feared that Jefferson lacked the courage of his
convictions. No man who lacked courage appealed to Jackson. Of
Alexander Hamilton he said, "No man could know him and not like
him, but he wanted Washington to accept a crown." Aaron Burr, he
thought, lacked but little of being a very great man ; that little, how-ever,
was a virtue Jackson highly esteemed, namely, reverence. All
these men Jackson had met during his short stay in Congress.
With Jefferson's administration Jackson had no patience. Jackson
resented the insults of the English and wanted to fight ; Jefferson did
not. Jackson was a witness in the trial of Aaron Burr for treason.
While at the trial in Richmond, Jackson became convinced that Jef-ferson
was pushing the case solely because he disliked Burr. It was
just at this time that a British vessel fired on an American vessel in
our own waters. Jackson could restrain himself no longer. From
the steps of the State-house in Richmond he denounced Jefferson and
his whole administration for cowardice, and this to an audience of
Virginians. Those who heard that speech knew that a new factor had
entered into national politics.
When the war did come Jackson was ready with his Tennessee
militia. The story of this war on land reflects no credit on American
arms. Our armies were defeated ; the administration had not .pre-pared
for it ; the officers were old men who had been officers in the
Revolution ; only Jackson and William Henry Harrison were young
men, and these were the two who did reflect credit on our arms on
land. Jackson was appointed to command in the southwest. While
the Peace Commissioners were negotiating terms of peace at Ghent,
England was busy fitting a most formidable naval armament to take
from the United States the Louisiana purchase. To Jackson fell the
task of defending this region at New Orleans. While Jackson was
preparing to defend New Orleans, the Peace Commissioners, under
the lead of Clay and John Quincy Adams, were signing a peace
that recognized not one single right for which America had gone
to war. So interested was England in this new scheme of conquest
39
that many of Wellington's soldiers, who had driven Napoleon from
Spain and had marched victorious through southern France, were
sent to join this expedition. To meet this formidable armament Jack-son
had no strong government on which to rely ; also, he was where
the government could not interfere with him. He declared New
Orleans under martial law and forced everybody to join him and his
Tennessee Riflemen. He opened the jails and placed one battery in
the hands of some released pirates. Jackson placed his men behind
breast-works and awaited the attack of these veteran English troops
whose heroic charges had won renown in Europe. T,he English were
over-confident ; one soldier saw it, and said, "O, that Wellington were
with us !" Jackson's men were stern with the joy that a warrior
feels when he meets a foeman worthy of his steel. Jackson ordered
his men to wait till the English were within good shooting distance.
Proudly and bravely the English advanced on the Americans. Jack-son
stepped to the side of a rifleman who was playing with the trigger
of his rifle and spoke to him. Clear as a bell the rifle spoke, and the
mounted leader of the English fell from his horse, shot through the
head. Then the battle began. At the first fire of the deadly riflemen
the mounted officers fell ; then down went the color-bearers. Every
rifleman selected the man in front of him. Never was there seen such
deadly work. Human valor could not endure the massacre, and so
the English retreated, their officers killed and their ranks so depleted
that they could not rally again.
The victory was complete ; it was the most glorious American arms
had ever won ; all the disgrace of the two years was wiped out ; Eng-land
had been humbled in a most unexpected quarter ; America was
elated. Even Jefferson attended a celebration in honor of the vic-tory.
The instigators of the disloyal Hartford Convention were crest-fallen.
By one stroke Jackson had become the most popular man in
America. Many States had their favorite sons, such as Clay, of Ken-tucky
; Calhoun, of South Carolina, and Adams and Webster, of New
England. But Jackson was the favorite son of the nation. Tennessee
sent him to the United States Senate, and in 1829 he became Presi-dent,
winning even the electoral votes of States whose favorite sons
opposed him. The campaign waged against Jackson was the bitterest
in the history of the country. Jefferson was a theoretical Democrat,
but Jackson was practical. He carried into practice what Jefferson
had taught. He reorganized the party that Jefferson had founded,
and gave it an organization that enabled it to control the destiny of
the United States till 1861. Jackson's influence on American life was
this : Till Jackson came, America was under the old dispensation of
Europe. With Jackson begins the new dispensation. Till Jackson,
America was a suppliant at the thrones of Europe; he made her
independent ; a child, he made her grown. Till Jackson, Democracy
was theoretical ; he made it practical ; he found it limited, he left it
popular. At the critical moment Andrew Jackson was America's ter-ritorial,
political and social redeemer.
WILLIAM ALEXANDER GRAHAM.
BY E. D. W. CONNOR.
William A. Graham was born September 5, 1804, in Lincoln County,
North Carolina. His father was Gen. Joseph Graham, who had
been a soldier of the Revolution. His mother's name was Isabella
Davidson. They had twelve children. William was the youngest.
When he was a boy there were no public schools in North Carolina.
He went to private schools at Statesville and Hillsboro. His teachers
all said that he was one of the best students in their schools. When
he was sixteen years old he went to the University of North Carolina.
He studied hard, read many good books, took part in the debates of
the debating society and became one of the best speakers in the State.
When he graduated, in 1824, he was one of the four highest students
in his class.
After leaving the University he went to Hillsboro to study law.
His teacher was the great lawyer and judge, Thomas Ruffin. Graham
became one of the leading lawyers of the State. When he was twenty-nine
years old he was elected to the Legislature. He was a member
of the Legislature eight times and helped to make many good laws.
One of these was the law to establish the public schools. Another
was the law to build the first railroad ever built in North Carolina.
In 1840 the Legislature had to elect two men to go to Washington
and represent North Carolina in the United States Senate. The Sen-ate
is a part of Congress and helps to make the laws for the whole
United States. The two men elected for North Carolina were Willie*
P. Mangum and William A. Graham. Both of these men lived in
Hillsboro. Graham was in the Senate two years. He was always
courteous and polite and made many friends. He attended carefully
to every duty that he had to perform, and was one of the hardest
workers in the Senate.
When he returned, to North Carolina, in 1843, the people at once
elected him Governor. He served four years as Governor. He took
a great deal of interest in the building of railroads, the digging of
canals and the making of good roads. He said that our roads were
a disgrace to the State, and what he said then is still true, in most of
the counties. Perhaps some day some of the boys who read this
story will become famous for building good roads in North Carolina.
He who does this will be regarded as one of the greatest men in the
State. Graham also urged the Legislature to build a hospital where
poor insane people could be cared for. He also favored the building
Pronounced Wylie.
41
of a school for deaf and dumb children. He did all that a Governor
could do to improve the public schools.
After he left the Governor's office the President of the United
States made him Secretary of the Navy. This was one of the most
important offices in the United States. Graham had charge of all the
war vessels and sailors of the United States. One of the things he
did was to send an expedition to make a treaty of friendship with
Japan. At that time Japan would not have anything to do with other
nations. The Japanese would not go to other countries and would
not let other people come to their country. But the commander of
the expedition which Graham sent persuaded the Japanese rulers to
open a trade with the people of the United States. After this Japan
began to trade with other nations and became one of the great nations
of the world.
Another thing that Graham did was to send a war vessel to bring
Louis Kossuth to the United States. He was a great patriot of Hun-gary,
a country in Europe, and had tried to win liberty for his people
like Washington did in America. But the tyrannical King defeated
him and he had to fly for his life. The American people admired his
bravery, and when he was in danger William A. Graham sent a vessel
to bring him in safety to this country. The people welcomed him
with great joy and held great meetings in his honor.
Graham had now become one of the leading men in the whole
United States. In 1852 the Whig party nominated him for Vice-Presi-dent.
He was not elected, and so came back to his home in Hillsboro.
. Soon after this the war broke out between the Nprth and the South.
You have read about this great war in your history of the United
States. At first North Carolina did not secede or withdraw from the
United States. But when President Lincoln told her that she must
send soldiers to fight against the South, all the people cried out, "If
we must fight, let us fight for the South and not against her." A
great convention was then held at Raleigh to decide what North Caro-lina
should do. Graham was one of the leading men in this conven-tion.
When North Carolina seceded and joined the Confederate
States, Graham was elected to represent her in the Confederate States
Senate, as he had done in the United States Senate. As soon as he
saw that the North had so many men that the South would be beaten
he did all in his power to make peace, for he wanted to save as many
lives as possible.
After the war was over many bad men came from the North to the
South and got control of the States. They were called "carpet-bag-gers."
Some bad men from the South, who were called "scallawags,"
turned against the South and joined the "carpet-baggers." They
made many bad laws, robbed the people and committed many out-rages.
Graham opposed them with all his might, and after a while
they were driven out of office and good men put in their places.
. 42
The war had broken up the public schools of the South, and the
people were too poor to build others. A good Northern man who then
lived in England admired the bravery of the Southern people and was
sorry for their sufferings. He wanted to help them, and decided that
the best thing he could do was to help them build schools. So he
gave a large sum of money, about $3,000,000, to build schools for
Southern children. His name was George Peabody. Mr. Peabody
selected several of the greatest men in America to see that this money
was properly spent. They were called the "Peabody Education
Board." One of them was William A. Graham. He helped to man-age
this immense educational fund and to build schools all over the
South. Many of the boys and girls who read this story are being
taught in schools begun by the Peabody Education Board, and so were
their fathers and mothers. What a noble thing it was for this North-ern
man to give this large amount of money to Southern children!
Every boy and girl in the South ought to remember George Peabody
and what he did, and every boy and girl in North Carolina ought to
remember the name of William A. Graham and what he did as a
member of the Peabody Education Board.
Graham did not live many years after the war. In 1874 the two
great States of Virginia and Maryland were in dispute about their
boundary line. They could not agree, so decided to select some men
from other States to settle the matter for them. Virginia selected
William A. Graham. While he was in Saratoga, New York, attending
to this business, he was taken ill, and died August 11, 1875.
THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN NORTH CAROLINA—THEIR
EARLY SCHOOLS.
BY CHARLES LEE RAPER, PH. D., PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
So long have we been slaves to the unfortunate habit of viewing
our history as purely a narrative of the politics and of the wars of
our ancestors, that we have almost completely failed to see another
phase, really a most vitally important one, of their life and thought.
We have made heroes of their politicians, statesmen and warriors.
But their teachers—their real guides and leaders—we have allowed
to remain unknown and thoroughly unappreciated. The time has now
certainly come when our boys and girls—yes, all of us—should know,
appreciate and venerate the really great teachers and leaders of our
past.
And of these leaders the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians have supplied
us with more than a goodly number. They have, in fact, during the
last forty years of the eighteenth century and the first three-quarters
of the nineteenth, been our most numerous, most energetic and de-voted
teachers—really brilliant lights to a people of all too slight
educational desire. »
During our colonial period—during those times which are now fast
passing into the realm of the mythical—it was these Scotch-Irish
school-masters who kept most of our schools. The Church of England
gave us a few of our early teachers, Anglican ministers serving also
as school-masters. But for the whole of our provincial life we can
discover scarcely eight of these masters. And their work was con-fined
exclusively to the seacoast settlements—to those sections east of
a line drawn from Edenton to Wilmington. At no time did their in-fluence
extend beyond this line. To the seacoast settlements these
teachers were a perpetual source of benefit, of guidance and inspira-tion.
The territory of the hill country—and this was, indeed, a vast one,
extending from the seacoast plains to the Catawba and beyond—was
untouched by these early Anglican minister-teachers. For the people
of this great territory, largely a series of Scotch-Irish settlements, it
was the Scotch-Irish Presbyterian minister who was the great teacher.
In fact, he was the only teacher, excepting the Moravians in the set-tlements
which centered about the now famous town of Salem. Dur-ing
all of the early life of this section—in fact, until the middle of
the nineteenth century—these Scotch-Irish Presbyterians gave us more
school-masters than any other church, really more than all the other
denominations combined.
44
When these minister-teachers came to the, hills of North Carolina
they found only a few people, and these scattered far and wide ; they
found a very primitive stage of life—pioneers in a very wilderness;
they found a people possessed of great ignorance, but with native good
sense and vigor ; they found a vast amount of the forces of nature to
conquer and a primitive people to develop into a higher life.
And these Scotch-Irish minister-teachers were an energetic body, a
band of heroic missionaries, reared in the province of Pennsylvania
and educated at Nassau Hall (later Princeton College), coming into
pioneer and primitive settlements. These bright, vigorous and in-dependent
men brought with them ideas which have exercised the
profoundest influence upon all the phases of our life and thought
—
upon our religion, our politics, our industry and our education. Their
churches and schools soon became centers of ideas—the places of their
nourishment and of their spreading. These Scotch-Irish Presbyterian
schools soon became and long continued to be the fountains of intel-lectual
vigor for a great portion of our own ancestors, and their influ-ence,
through their pupils, became coextensive with our entire coun-try.
Independent in their inheritances and early training, these
preacher-teachers became more and more independent in their new
mission field. To the King of England they never professed more than
nominal allegiance ; they were subjects only of the one great King
the Lord. And it was these people who were our great school-masters
for a hundred years.
This Scotch-Irish Presbyterian minister-teacher deserves at the
hands of the historian and at the hands of our people, especially our
school boys and girls, a thousand times more consideration and ven-eration
than we have ever thought to pay him. He was in the truest
sense a pioneer—an ardent missionary in a new, thinly settled and
primitive community. He possessed the ability to appreciate intelli-gence
and culture as none other of our colonial ancestors did ; he
keenly appreciated the exceedingly great and permanent value of
education, for the individual and the community alike. He gave his
very life—its ideals, its energy, its enthusiasm—to the teaching o'f his
fellow-men ; his classical school was ever a shining and brilliant light,
He stood out, and always, for the light of classical thought and cul-ture,
and proclaimed the power of knowledge, of character and of re-finement,
in the midst of ignorance and crudeness.
Just when the first of these Scotch-Irish Presbyterian school-mas-ters
began his work it is now impossible to ascertain, though we have
excellent reasons for thinking that it was as early as 1760. From
this time certainly until 1860 these school-masters were the true lead-ers
of our life—the vital and brilliant spots in our history.
It is most probable that the first of these school-masters began his
work in the famous Center congregation, which extended from the
Yadkin to the Catawba, and which had within its bounds a goodly
number of our famous Revolutionary men—the Bre'vards, the Os-
45
borues and the Davidsons. This school, which was located within
this congregation, near the spot upon which later that most important
higher institution, Davidson College, was built, was known by the
name of Crowfield Academy.
But, though established six or seven years later than Crowfield,
Caldwell's "Log College," located five miles northwest of the place
from which later was to spring the vigorous town of Greensboro, was
certainly the greatest and most famous of all the early Scotch-Irish
schools. In point of duration, and especially of the personality of the
master, Rev. David Caldwell, D. D., this school has no superior in the
educational history of our life. Caldwell fashioned and shaped much
of the life of a large territory for almost sixty years. Born in Penn-sylvania
in 1725, graduated from Nassau Hall (later the famous
Princeton College) in 1761, sent to North Carolina as a missionary in
1765, Caldwell, when ordained as the pastor of the churches of Buffalo
and Alamance in 1768, began a career of most extraordinary impor-tance.
To the end of his life, in 1824, he was, indeed, the master,
religious and educational, of a large and influential community. Yes,
he was more than this ; he was their physician for years. And as
their patriotic and intelligent statesman he took a very prominent
part in the "War of the Regulators," in the Revolution, in the Con-vention
of 1776 which formulated the State Constitution, and in the
Convention of 1788 which refused to ratify the Federal Constitution.
But it was as the minister of Buffalo and Alamance and the master
of the "Log College" (a two-story log house located in his own yard)
that Caldwell performed his greatest and most permanent service.
Through these instruments, especially through his work with students
from all sections of the South, Caldwell was a great master.
And there were other famous classical schools of the Scotch-Irish
—
Queen's Museum, or Liberty Hall, at Charlotte, 1767-'80, Clio's
Nursery and Science Hall, Zion Parnassus, and a number of others
less famous.
Clio's Nursery and Science Hall were founded by the Rev. James
Hall, D. D. ; Clio, in 1778, and Science Hall a few years later. Born
in Pennsylvania in 1744, graduated from Nassau Hall (Princeton) in
1774, Hall came to western North Carolina in 1776 and became the
minister of three Scotch-Irish congregations, extending from the South
Yadkin to the Catawba, of which the most important was Bethany.
And in this community he spent his life's best thought and energies,
until his death, in 1826. During all these years Hall was the master.
He was a very influential preacher and teacher. He was also an
ardent American; he dared to accept the command of a company of
patriots as chaplain-captain, even though he was a servant of the
Great Lord of Peace.
Zion Parnassus was established and for many years conducted by
the Rev. Samuel E. McCorkle, D. D. He, like Caldwell and Hall, was
a son of Pennsylvania and a graduate of Nassau Hall in 1772. And,
46
like these two famous preacher-teachers, he was the minister of a
Presbyterian congregation, Thyatira, in western Rowan County. At
the church of this congregation, from 1777 to 1811, and at his classical
and normal school which he founded at his home, about nine miles
west of Salisbury, on the highway from Salisbury to Statesville, he
performed a wonderfully valuable service—of teaching and guiding
his fellow-men from the lower to the higher plains of human life.
Such is the educational record of the early Scotch-Irish Presbyte-rians
in North Carolina, though told in most meager outline and,
withal, too little interest. Judged from any point of view, it is
throughout a record of wonderful energy, devotion, intelligence and
brilliancy. What other leaders are there in our early life who de-serve
so much at our hands? Let us give them their proper place in
our history—a most high place in our record of permanent fame.
THE OLD NORTH STATE.
BY WILLIAM GASTON.
Carolina ! Carolina ! Heaven's blessings attend her !
While we live we will cherish, protect and defend her;
Though the scorner may sneer at and witlings defame her,
Our hearts swell with gladness whenever we name her.
Hurrah! Hurrah, the Old North State forever!
Hurrah ! Hurrah ! the good Old North State
!
Though she envies not others their merited glory,
Say, whose name stands .foremost in Liberty's story
!
Though too true to herself e'er to crouch to. oppression,
Who can yield to just rule more loyal submission?
Hurrah, etc.
Plain and artless her sons, but whose doors open faster
At the knock of a stranger, or the tale of disaster?
How like to the rudeness of their dear native mountains,
With rich ore in their bosoms and life in their fountains.
Hurrah, etc.
And her daughters, the Queen of the Forest resembling
—
So graceful, so constant, yet to gentlest breath trembling
;
And true lightwood at heart, let the match be applied them,
How they kindle and flame ! Oh ! none know but who've
tried them.
Hurrah, etc.
Then let all who love us, love the land that we live in
(As happy a region as on this side of Heaven),
Where Plenty and Freedom, Love and Peace smile before us,
Raise aloud, raise together the heart-thrilling chorus
!
Hurrah ! Hurrah ! the Old North State forever
!
Hurrah! Hurrah! the good Old North State!
A BALLAD OF HEROES.
AUSTIN DOBSON.
Because you passed, and now are not,
—
Because, in some remoter day,
Your sacred dust from doubtful spot
Was blown of ancient airs away,
Because you perished,— must men say
Your deeds are naught, and so profane
Your lives with that cold burden? Nay,
The deeds you wrought are not in vain!
Though it may be, above the plot
That hid your once imperial clay,
No greener than o'er men forgot
The unregarding grasses sway ;
—
Though there no sweeter is the lay
Of careless bird,—though you remain
Without distinction of decay,
—
The deeds you wrought are not in vain!
No. For while yet in tower or cot
Your story stirs the pulses' play
;
And men forget the sordid lot
—
The sordid care, of cities gray ;
—
While yet, be-set in homelier fray,
They learn from you the lesson plain
That Life may go, so Honor stay,—
i
The deeds you wrought are not in vain!
ENVOY.
Heroes of old! I humbly lay
The laurel on your graves again;
Whatever men have done, men may,
—
The deeds you wrought are not in vain.